Naruto's Friend: Shipudden
by RedR0se1248
Summary: The Sequel to Naruto's Friend. When Annie and Naruto are finally reunited after Naruto's 2 year long trip, they can't bare to think that the countdown to their true separation has only begun. Together, they must save Gaara and the other Jinchuuriki from the Akatsuki, Sasuke from himself, and all of Time and Space from the big hole Orochimaru created in order to bring Annie home.
1. Chapter 1

A tall fifteen year old kid with restless, spikey brown hair and a giant, panting, white dog at his side knocked on the log cabin door. While he waited for an answer, the breeze rustled through the surrounding trees, tumbling the crackly autumn leaves.

After a few minutes, the girl standing next to him with chopped cotton candy pink hair and a white and cherry pink dress sighed.

"She must be gone again."

Kiba nodded. Annie had dissappeared to the mysterious place only she and Naruto knew about. Sakura and Kiba had known about the training place for years, but they'd never found out exactly where it was.

Annie often took advantage of this and hid in it whenever she had what Kiba called a "dry spell." Short periods of depression where she became more reserved and sad, thoughts of Naruto flooding her mind. She became distant and—Sakura couldn't believe it—_quiet. _On a visit to Ichiraku or any other normal hang-out place, Annie would normally be the center of attention. She was the loud, witty, hilarious, friendly girl. But when a dry spell hit, she was almost invisible. In fact, there were quite a few times where Annie had actually turned invisible and floated off to her private hideout.

There were a lot of rumors about her too. It was to be expected. After all, she was the Elemental Girl,_ Erementaru Hana. _

And not only that, but she'd been disappearing, rarely taking missions. To those who didn't know her, she did seem very mysterious. She hadn't even participated in the Chunnin Exams and tried to advance with everyone else. Sometimes, Annie didn't wear her ninja headband to training, though she always stated that she "accidentally" left it. She never even wore shoes that often, and just floated through the streets. Flying seemed like a much more fun option than walking, so Sakura at least understood that bit.

The rumors had made Sakura laugh the first time she'd heard them. They described Annie as a tragic heroine. A beautiful ghost or an angel; graceful, lonely, and sad.

Sakura knew her as a rambunctious, joking rebel, kind but ready to pound you into dust if you made the wrong move. She had a huge smile and just wanted to have fun all of the time.

Even when Annie was acting normal, she smiled a lot less with him gone.

The dry spells had become much more frequent and unpredictable. Kiba and Sakura were worried. That's why they were there, at Annie's log home, unfortunately fruitless.

Now, Sakura wasn't sure what to believe.

"Annie better get her act together. Naruto should be home any day now." Kiba whined as they left the little log house.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You just want a chance at her before Naruto gets back."

Kiba's cheeks went bright red. "Nuh-uh! I could totally charm Annie if I wanted, with Naruto here!"

Sakura face-palmed. "Boys are clueless."

"Whatever." Kiba muttered. They made their way back to Ichiraku slowly, not exactly anxious to share news, or lack of, with Lee, Shikamaru, and Chouji. They had become close to Annie over the last year, when she'd needed friends the most.

Sakura had especially become closer to Annie, because she knew that Annie was suffering from a lot more then a lost best friend.

She missed her family.

Sakura saw Ichiraku just a few steps ahead. Most of her friends were already there. Ino, Lee, Chouji, and Shikamaru were chatting pleasantly as they slurped noodles. Everyone was here except for Naruto and Ann—

Annie!

"There you are, spazz! We couldn't find you at your house!"

Annie looked up from her noodles with a slight smile. "That's because I'm here, silly."

"We haven't seen you around for a while. I was getting worried."

Annie stood up from her seat, straightening her knee-length, simple white dress. "Oh, you've got nothing to worry about, Sakura-Chan." She winked.

Sakura shook her head. "Annie, with you, I'm never certain." The group of kids laughed. Annie glanced at Akamaru, Kiba's now ginormous dog.

"Can you ride him?"

Kiba looked disturbed for a second. "Excuse me?"

"Can you ride him? On his back? 'Cause that would be awesome."

Kiba's cheeks turned red. "Uh...yeah. I did that once."

Her eyes lit up. "Can I try?"

He grinned. "Okay. I'll get Akamaru cleaned up, then we'll see to it, okay?"

Annie clapped her hands together. "Awesome!"

* * *

Naruto stepped into Konoha's gate with a flashy smile.

"You're a sight for sore eyes." He grinned. His heart leaped with joy as he imagined finally seeing Annie again, not to mention all of his other friends. Lee, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji, and Sakura. But, of course, Annie was special.

What bugged Naruto at the back of his mind was that he'd realized on his trip that half the guys in Konoha liked her, and that was when she was just thirteen. Now, she was almost fifteen as of November 21st, and it was nearly October. She had most likely become even more stunningly beautigul then before. There was no way she'd been single this whole time. When they'd kissed before he'd left, it had been amazing and special for him. Who knew if she'd taken other guys on a fly before, and shared that with them, too?

"What are you waiting for, Naruto?" Jiraiya smacked his back. "Worried your home changed?"

"A little." Naruto admitted.

"Don't worry. If your Annie-Chan has changed at all in the last two years, it's only been for the better." He winked. Naruto wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that.

Jiraiya and Naruto separated, which felt weird, considering that they'd been at each other's side for nearly two years straight.

Naruto ran straight for Annie's log home.

He knocked, and no one answered. He let himself in. Annie's one room home looked exactly the same as the night before he'd left. He could picture Annie sitting on her bed in Sakura's borrowed pajamas, reading a scroll about Earth jutsus, whining about how boring it was, yet still reading it. He could see her making a mirror out of water and running her hands through her tangled, curly light brown hair for about half a second before letting the mirror splash on the floor. He could see her sitting on the floor, leaning on her bedside table, playing with her necklace that she almost never took off, her brow furrowed in deep thought.

Then he stopped thinking, and decided he wanted to see the real thing.

He checked out their hideout next.

Nope, not there.

Ichiraku?

Negative.

Barbecue restaurant?

Nope. More likely he would find Chouji there.

Naruto ran back to Ichiraku, upset that not only had he not found Annie, but he hadn't found _anyone._

He decided that it may be possible they were all on a mission or something, and he stepped inside the ramen shop to finally have the best food in the world.

Instead, he found Lee and Sakura, happily enjoying a bowl of ramen between the two of them.

The old man that owned Ichiraku turned around to hand them another bowl, but dropped it in shock.

"N...Nah..." He stuttered. The other two looked at him strangely.

"What is it, Baa-San?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, What?" Lee asked.

The old man pointed at Naruto, and the two slowly turned around, then gasped.

"Naruto!" She grinned.

Lee stood up. "Naruto-San!"

He smiled. "Hey, guys. It's been a while."

"You think?" Sakura punched him playfully. She tried not to blush at how tall and muscular Naruto had become. He was at least five inches taller then her, when before he'd been the shortest kid her age. His eyes were more intense and blue, filled with longing and nostalgia.

"Have you seen Annie yet?" Lee asked him. He shook his head.

"I can't find her anywhere. You guys are the first people I've found."

Sakura grinned at the prospect of watching Naruto finally see Annie after two long years. "Try the Fish Shop. I think I saw her and Kiba-Kun there."

"Okay, thank you, Sakura-Chan!" Naruto ran off to find the fish shop. He did want to visit with Lee and Sakura after so long, but if Annie was with _Kiba_...

Annie didn't even like fish!

He looked in the green-tinted windows of the shop. Kiba was there, chatting with a girl in a flowy white dress that fell just past her knees. Curly blonde hair cascaded down her back, and her small feet were bare. She and Kiba walked across the fish shop, her graceful gait and flowy dress making her seem elegant and ghost-like. He wished the girl would turn around so that he could see her face.

He wondered where Annie could be. Probably somewhere in the corner, rolling her eyes at the girl in the dress. Annie wouldn't be caught dead in a dress. And barefoot? Only on the weekends. She always wore capris and sneakers.

Then Kiba took the girl's hand and they walked towards the door. Naruto caught a flash of her dark blue eyes, perfectly angled chin, white smile, and raised eyebrows that he'd seen so many times.

No way.

It was...It was...

Annie!

Naruto was so shocked at finding her like this, that for once, he was completely speechless. He watched her walk out the door, and step into the blinding sunlight, which made her dress shine.

As she started to walk away, he was finally able to stutter out, "A-Annie-Chan."

Annie stopped. That voice... It was different, but familiar. It had the same articulation of her name as someone she'd imagined speaking to her so many times over the last two years. She turned around slowly. Painfully slowly. She didn't want to be faced with disappointment. She didn't want to be reminded that he was gone.

She saw the orange jumpsuit, and she was already running. She fell into his arms and registered how much taller he was, and how he had black in the design of his jumpsuit. His arms were muscular and huge, and his eyes were brighter. His baby fat was gone, his face filled out with a fully set jaw. It was him, though. His smile was exactly the same, and by some miracle, he smelled the same. Her hands ran through the same spiky, thick blonde hair as before.

"Naru-Kun, it's you." She sighed.

"It's me, Watashi no Karu."

"I missed you, Muso-Ka."

"I missed you, too."

Naruto held Annie tightly, his hands knotting in her curly blonde hair.

A crowd began to gather, among them, Sakura and Ino and Kiba. They started chanting, "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

Annie grinned up at Naruto, her night blue eyes sparkling. Naruto smiled, and their lips locked in front of the whole world.

"They still love each other." Kiba blinked. He didn't know whether to be happy for them or disappointed.

Ino stood with her hip popped out beside him.

"I still think Annie could do better. I mean, look at her! She's gorgeous, and she's running after the goof who left her for an eternity and a half."

Sakura punched Ino in the arm. "Shut up, Ino."

Ino looked at Sakura strangely while rubbing her arm, wondering why she deserved that.

Sakura sighed. Ino could never understand the concept of real, honest love. Sakura could see it in Annie's eyes. She could see it in Naruto's eyes. They were in true, unbreakable love. Being separated for two years had only made that feeling sharper and more focused.

And yet, their true separation was still an impending deadline...

** 60 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	2. Chapter 2

"You have a _job? _At the _hospital?_" Naruto gasped. Annie laughed at his jaw-drop reaction to her nurse outfit, which was completely modest, by the way.

"It's not a job. It's volunteer work." She grinned.

"How long have you been volunteering at the hospital?"

"A few months. The missions died down a little. I can't let my talents go to waste while I wait for a good mission, can I?" She winked. Naruto grinned as his arms wrapped around her waist.

"You're really something, Annie."

"I know." She smiled and kissed him for probably the hundredth time that week. Yet, every single kiss was special. She'd missed him so much.

"UGH, guys, please! Get a room!" Kiba rolled his eyes.

"Nah. A ramen shop does just fine." Annie joked. Kiba elbowed her. She elbowed him back.

"Well, I should get going. Want to come with, Naruto-Kun?"

"Definitely. See you later, Kiba!" Kiba muttered 'bye' to them both.

"She better not give him a 'check-up', too." He chuckled darkly.

* * *

"Marufuji! It's about time you got here!" A nurse grabbed Annie's hand and frantically pulled her towards the emergency room.

"We've got a team of ninjas that just abandoned a mission for their lives! One has a heart condition and several fractures in his ribs, another has several knife wounds that will prove fatal if they aren't healed soon, and another has three-degree burns all over his body, a broken arm, and a fractured skull! Sakura is having issues with another team in room 232B, she can't help us!"

"That's okay, I got this." Annie's mouth set at a firm line, and Naruto recognized her determined look. Her hair, dress, and job may have changed, but really, Annie was the same sassy, determined, quirky, clever girl he knew her as.

Annie stepped into the Emergency Room, completely unfazed by the grisly condition of the three ninjas. She summoned water from a sink, which the nurse had rushed over to turn on just for Annie's use. Annie raised her hands over her head, and twenty gallons of water swirled and glowed over the three ninjas. The water separated into three shifting, blue bodies, then wrapped themselves around the ninjas, leaving only their mouths and noses uncovered. Annie's fists clenched, and blue light burst from the water. The wounds from each man began to heal almost instantly. Annie held the shifting water under her control for about ten minutes, not even breaking a sweat.

Her eyes, whites and all, glowed bright blue for a second. "They're fine, now." She swept all of the water back into the air with one sweep of her arms, then drained it back into the sink. The nurse checked each ninja.

"Perfect. Not a burn, or a scratch..."

Naruto and the nurse stared at Annie incredulously.

"I've seen you do that a dozen times, and yet..." She shook her head.

"Wow." Was all Naruto could say, "Somebody's been practicing."

"Oh, yeah. The hospital is a perfect place to practice my healing." Annie grinned.

"Yeah, so get practicing!" Said the nurse as she ran out of the room in a flurry, "There are tons of other leaf ninjas that are injured! Move your tiny behind!"

"My behind is _so _not tiny!" Annie retorted as she ran after the nurse. Naruto kept his mouth shut for the sake of his health.

Annie and Naruto spent the next several hours chasing the nurse, healing patients, then picking up their dropped jaws and running after the nurse again. Finally, when the rush was over, the nurse took her lunch break and collapsed on a couch. Annie and Naruto took a drink of water and explored the hospital, taking their time as they went from room to room.

Somehow, they ended up on the roof.

The roof of the hospital.

Where Sasuke and Naruto had nearly killed each other and Sakura.

Where Team 7 had all nearly died, except for one.

Where Sasuke had first started to go rogue.

Annie and Naruto's faces fell as they both realized this at the exact same time. Annie squeezed Naruto's hand.

"It's time to ask the question we've both been avoiding for the last week, Naru-Kun."

"Yes, it is."

"And that question is, how are we going to get Sasuke-Kun back?"

Naruto looked at her. She blinked a lot, like tears were threatening to come. He turned to her and lifted her chin.

"We will find that answer. I pro—"

"No, don't promise me, Naruto."

He blinked. "Why?"

"Because I want to promise _you _that we will." She rolled back her shoulders and straightened. "And that way I will take some responsibility."

Naruto smiled a tiny bit. "Whatever you say, Annie-Chan."

Annie sighed. The last thing Naruto needed was more on his shoulders. He hadn't even realized yet that all of the ninjas their age except for him and Annie were Chuunin and even Juunin. Being Genin didn't bother Annie, as she wasn't even really a part of this world, but Naruto needed to advance in order to become Hokage some day.

"Well,"Naruto sighed. "I suppose we should begin by starting on missions. Big or small, stinking of Orochimaru or not. A B-rank would be a nice start after such a long break, don't you think, Annie-Chan?"

Annie grinned. "Go big or go home. I want an A-rank."

** 53 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	3. Chapter 3

Pain.

Harrowing, electric, burning, raw pain.

That was all Annie felt right now.

Her blood literally felt like it was boiling, threatening to seep out of her skin. Her gut twisted and she felt like she was going to puke.

But she never did.

On the outside, she looked fine. Not a drop of sweat was on her forehead. If Tsunade were to give her a check-up, she'd be dazzlingly healthy.

Yet Annie was on the floor, begging for the wave of pain to stop. In her state, she didn't care if she died. She just wanted to be released from this horror.

And then, as fast as it had come, it faded away. Her entire body relaxed. Gentle air entered her lungs.

For some reason, she'd thought this pain would stop when Naruto would come back. For a while, her body did seem to be at peace as she spent each happy new day with Naruto. She didn't know why these five-minute attacks were happening to her. They just did.

Whenever these attacks happened, she disappeared. She didn't want anyone to ask her why or how this was happening. She suspected it might have something to do with her upcoming fifteenth birthday. The attacks were a painful reminder that she, indeed, didn't belong here.

She belonged in New York.

At least, according to the space-time continuum. Annie wasn't so sure about that herself. She'd lived here for twelve years. Twelve long, painful, amazing years that were completely fulfilled, so unlike her other life. Yet, her other life was where she was born, where she had a family.

She had a family here, too, though. And a boyfriend. One that was freaking amazing.

It was only a matter of time.

Time was her enemy.

Time was what she did not have.

She controlled all of the elements, except time.

* * *

Naruto, like Sakura and Lee, had begun to notice Annie's disappearances.

"Have you seen how sometimes she'll do that, just leave without a trace?" Naruto asked Sakura one day.

She bit her lip nervously. "I thought it would stop once you came back. I thought it was just her way of dealing with you being gone."

Naruto glanced at the seat where Annie had been sitting only a minute ago. "But I'm back now. Why isn't she okay?"

Sakura leaned closer to Naruto and whispered to him. "Maybe it has something to do with New York."

Naruto gulped. New York was that strange, otherworldly place that Annie came from, where people weren't born with chakra. He still wasn't sure whether that meant they'd been born dead, or were sleeping all of the time, or what. He couldn't understand why Annie would want to go back to a place where people slept all of the time.

He just knew she had to, or else time and space would become really messed up.

"I'm going to find her."

He went straight to Annie's house.

"Annie-Chan?" He asked as he creaked the door open. He gasped when he found her on the floor, panting, her knuckles clenched and white.

"Annie! Are you okay?" He ran to her side, helping her sit up.

"N-Naruto-Kun, I don't know what's been happening. I...I keep having these attacks..."

"Attacks?"

She nodded. "I feel like I'm getting burned and electrocuted just out of the blue, and I don't know why. Then it just disappears. I can never tell when it's going to happen."

Naruto's grew wide. "We need to get you to the hospital. I have a bottle of water, right here—"

"No, Naruto-Kun. I've already tried scanning my body status with the water. Nothing appears wrong. I think..." She bit back her last sentence.

"What do you think, Annie?"

"I think it has something to do with my birthday. I mean, it keeps getting closer, and they keep becoming more frequent. It might have something to do with how I wasn't born here."

Naruto froze and his face went white. "Oh my gosh. Sakura was right."

"What?"

He hesitated. "Sakura noticed how often you left her and your friends without a word. She thought it was because you were depressed at first. But then you left today, and she thought maybe it was because of New York."

Annie almost laughed at how Naruto pronounced New York, like his tongue couldn't get around the _o-erk_ sound. "I guess she was right. And, honestly, just because someone I care about, a _lot_, is going to be gone for a little while, doesn't mean I'm going to go to pieces."

Naruto grinned. "I guess she should have known that. She's known you for how long?"

"Dude, I've lost count on the years. But, anyway, I'm not going to let some stupid weekly pain attacks stop me from a mission. Did you get anything good from Tsunade?"

Naruto looked away. "Yes. She wants to see us as soon as possible. Sakura and Kakashi are probably waiting for us at Hokage tower."

Annie elbowed him. "If I know Kakashi, I think it'll be _us _waiting for _him_."

** 52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	4. Chapter 4

Greens and browns of a thousand different shades flashed by as the morning beams of sunlight grew high and hot. The flashes zipped by dizzyingly fast.

"Naruto, slow the freak down!" Annie shouted, looking back at Sakura, Kakashi, Lee, Gai, and the older woman Chiyo fading fast in the background. Annie exploded out of the canopy of trees, finally released from the sea of forest. She spotted the orange blur up ahead, and shot after it at a hundred-mile-per hour flying speed. She scooped up Naruto and carried him out of the trees, high into the blue sky.

He was extremely heavy for Annie, so it wasn't long before she had to start levitating him with the air around her. He folded his arms, nothing more than irritated by the fact that he was floating a hundred feet above a forest.

"Annie, let me go! We have to hurry!"

"I _know, _Naruto-Kun. I know Gaara needs us as soon as possible. Please, you have to think about your teammates. I had to _fly _to keep up with you. And if you don't keep your chakra in check, you might go kyuubi. That's the last thing you want to do." She spoke to him firmly.

"Well, if it'll help me get there faster..." He muttered.

Annie stomped her foot, which caused the trees a hundred feet below to shiver in effect. "Absolutely not. As your girlfriend, I will not let you hurt yourself and the others around you like that in order to save Gaara. Don't even think about it."

"But we'll never get to Gaara in time!"

She considered. "Listen, I'll fly ahead and look for Gaara and watch over him, okay?"

"No! As your boyfriend, I will not let you just fly alone into danger like that!"

Annie smiled a bit. "I know. And I love you for that." She kissed him, then said, "But none of the Akatsuki will see me. I'll be invisible and I'll fly the whole time. I'll be fine. I won't get involved, okay?"

"Okay. I love you too, Annie-Chan. I'll see you in just a little while."

"Yeah."

She safely floated Naruto back down to the trees, where Team Kakashi was watching nervously.

Naruto watched Annie from far below. Her simple white dress (Why was she wearing a _dress?_), golden hair, and the sunlight shining brightly on her made her look like an angel flying high in the sky. "Naruto, what is she doing?" Sakura asked her.

"She's going to fly ahead."

"Invisible, right?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah. She also said she wouldn't intervene."

"You do realize that this is Annie you're talking about?" Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know. She's probably going to keep that promise for about five seconds. She'll keep any promise, except for one that means doing the wrong thing."

Annie burst into a speed that she hadn't tried out in a while. One hundred miles per hour... One hundred fifty miles per hour...One hundred seventy-five miles per hour...Two hundred miles per hour...

It kept building up. She knew she honestly had no idea where she was going, but she had to keep faith that she would find the signs. She dove through clouds, soared over the long green fields, and swooped around birds and v-formations—

BAM.

An unexpected, huge current of air slammed into her and threw her off balance. It took several moments to stop herself from falling. It took most of her will not to scream at the unexpected fall.

"What the crap was that?" She muttered. She flew back up into the clouds, then saw what had caused such a big disruption in the air current systems.

A huge sparrow, all beige colored, twenty times Annie's size.

"What the crap is that?" She asked, once again.

A person with long, straight blonde hair up in a ponytail and bangs cut to cover an eye, and a black dress with red cloud-thingies on it, stood on top of the sparrow, commanding it to go faster.

Annie got a closer look at the person. She appeared to be a woman, with black makeup around her blue eyes and feminine hands. She heard the woman spew a few unladylike words.

_Who could that be? Isn't that an Akatsuki uniform?_

Honestly, why did she wear an Akatsuki uniform when it made it obvious to everyone who she was? Villains were idiots. That fact had only been proved to Annie over and over again.

Then again, Annie was one of the only ones who could fly close enough to see it...

She saw a basket resting on top of the sparrow. It was the same color as it. Heck, it looked like it could've been part of the ginormous bird. She flew closer, making sure her supporting air currents were thin and distant enough to not disturb the bird's wings. She touched the feathers of the bird lightly, and the feathers were smooth and squishy, like clay.

She ripped her hand away. This bird was some sort of earth jutsu or something! Maybe a bloodline, for clay animation!

And the basket on top of the bird...

A trap...

This was the woman who held Gaara captive!

Without a thought, she summoned water from the air and clouds around her and made a sharp, ice blade. She chopped a wing of the sparrow off, and the sparrow instantly started to fall.

She immediately regretted it. First, Gaara was still on the bird as it fell. Second, the bird was clay. Clay can be squished together. Third, she'd made herself known and had broken her promise to Naruto. But, honestly, he should've seen that coming.

The woman shouted a bunch of much more unladylike words and made the bird grow another wing after falling for twenty seconds. This time, Annie waited for them to grow elevation, iced over both wings and the tail, then kicked the clay basket off of the bird with her earth jutsu.

"Agh!" Annie bit back curses as the kick reverberated in her leg. She could kick earth, easy. Sand? with hardly any difficulty. Clay? With her little practice in that element, it hurt like Hades, but it was possible.

Annie had to use all of her power in wind summoning to keep the basket of clay floating beside her. With the floating clay basket and the invisibility her energy was going to give way wickedly fast. She might not even be able to fly herself home, and that was like second nature to her.

She had to let the invisibility go.

The woman had made another bird, somehow. She flew back up, an insane look in her eyes.

"Ah, I see who I'm fighting now! It's Erementaru Hana! I'm sure some of the members of Akatsuki will be _very _pleased to meet you!"

** 51 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**

A/N

Disclaimer: Gaara actually was not kidnapped, nor was he Hokage, until a year after this time. Naruto was actually on his trip for two and a half years, but in this story he made it one year shorter in order to make it back before Annie's fifteenth birthday.

Since Annie's friggin awesome, Gaara just became Hokage sooner, I guess. And, uh, the Akatsuki suddenly decided they wanted to suck up his Jinchuuriki power sooner. Yup.

This is a fanfiction. Fanfictions do not make sense. Accept it.


	5. Chapter 5

Annie learned something new that day.

One, Akatsuki guys don't like it when you call them "chicks."

Two, the Akatsuki member was a dude named Deidara.

Honestly, if he didn't like being called a girl so much, then why did he have the same haircut as Ino?

"Shut up!" Deidara shouted at her.

"I was just saying. She's like girliest—"

"Do you want to die?"

"Excellent question."

"Urgh!"

"Are you constipated?"

"What—no!"

"Then why are you urgh-ing like that?"

"Shut up." Deidara tried to smack Annie, but she just turned intangible and continued sitting on his bird. Deidara stomped.

"Get off my bird, or I'll blow it up."

"Well, that wouldn't be too smart."

"I'd survive."

"Yes, but the Jinchuuriki wouldn't. You'd release the untamed one-tail into the world. Then you'd be infinitely screwed."

Deidara glared at Annie. "Get off my bird."

"Nah. Clay is comfortable. Fits my butt cheeks just right."

"That's just gross."

"So's your face."

Deidara dived at Annie, but she turned intangible again.

"You act like a girl too. I mean, really, I can totally see you starting a cat-fight in high school."

"High school?" He raised his eyebrow.

"_Si, senorita_. _Ay Caramba_, you are _muchas stupido_!" Annie grinned as Deidara looked at her strangely. She enjoyed speaking Spanglish; randomly mixing her Spanish and English words just for the heck of it. It screwed up everyone in this other world.

"You know, I expected a bit more than a stupid kid in the Erementaru Hana."

"Said the chick who couldn't understand the language I just spoke."

He faced Annie, clenching his teeth. "Call me a girl, one more time."

"I thought you didn't like being called a girl." Annie blinked at him coyly.

His face went red with rage. He turned and shouted at the sky. "SOMEBODY GET THIS STUPID GIRL OFF OF MY BIRD!" He stomped and kicked at the clay bird for several minutes, cursing and trying his best to scream louder then she could talk. After successfully ignoring her for about ten minutes, he realized that it had worked only too well. He turned around, and the Jinchuuriki was gone, once again. The Akatsuki was going to kill him.

Annie grinned stupidly as she carried Gaara—just Gaara, without the basket—down from the sky towards a huge field of grass. She'd be able to cross paths with Naruto this way. She set Gaara down in the grass, then relaxed beside him with a sigh. She hadn't seen Gaara in forever—he wasn't the skinny shrimp she remembered him as. He was much taller and more broad-shouldered than she was. Which honestly, Annie remembered, didn't take much. She was pretty short, only 5'2''.

He looked much more healthier, that was for sure. He had much more color to his cheeks, and his face was filled out, without the shallow lack of nutrition that was there before. He still had the same wild, curly red hair that she adored.

She still couldn't believe that he was Kazekage now. He must've done some serious changing in the last two years she'd seen him.

In America, a killer could never become President. Ever.

The Fire Country believed in change and second chances.

She was going to miss this place.

Gaara made a sound next to her. He grunted, and his eyes snapped open.

"Gaara!" Annie whispered. "Are you alright?"

He looked at her, not comprehending. His icy blue eyes studied her for some time before he finally responded.

"Are you...a dream?"

Annie smiled gently. "No, I'm real. You're awake, Gaara."

"Are you working with the Akatsuki?"

"No, Gaara, silly. I saved you." She grinned. He sat up slowly, his arms shaking a little as he did. Annie laid back down on the grass, her eyes watching the sky, a big smile still on her face. Gaara still watched her like she was alien.

"My friend, Shikamaru, he loves to do this. Just relax and watch the clouds glide by."

Gaara's blank face didn't cease.

"Are you...Erementaru Hana?"

"Mhm."

"So...are you the girl who fought me in the Chuunin Exams?"

Annie flashed him a smile, though she wasn't sure about how genuine it looked. She wondered if he wanted to take revenge on her for beating him. "Yes. I know I must look different."

He blinked, then he did something that completely surprised Annie. He kissed her on the cheek.

"Uh..." Annie's mouth went dry, her cheeks went bright red, and the air escaped her lungs.

"That was a thank you. For many things." He said without hesitation. Annie wondered if Gaara understood the weight of kissing a girl on the cheek. Maybe he was blushing on the inside.

Annie smiled weakly. "Oh, wow. You're so welcome. What...did I do, exactly? And, really, I should be thanking you. You and Lee saved my life two years ago, from that bone bloodline dude."

Gaara's lip curled a bit. "I don't think you understand the weight of your words and actions on other people, Erementaru Hana."

Well, touche.

"I guess I don't. And you may call me Annie. It's what my friends call me."

Gaara looked surprised at that. "Oh. Okay, Annie. So...are you _sure _you aren't an Akatsuki member?"

"Yeah. Pretty sure. Why?"

"Because Itachi is over there."

Annie stood up and whirled around. There he was, Sasuke's brother, standing at the edge of the field.

"Oh, my gosh! Who—What—crap!" She was shocked at his appearance, but her shock grew into anger quickly.

"What the heck are you doing here? Screw off!" She stomped towards him, ready to pound him into the dust, though sense told her that he was probably much more powerful than she was.

"NO! Don't look at his eyes, Annie!" Gaara tried to warn her.

Annie always looked into the eyes of her enemy. It showed them that she wasn't scared. It demonstrated that she was stronger and more intimidating than they were.

Too late did she hear Gaara's warning. She was already staring into those black and blood-red eyes. The eyes enveloped her. Pain struck her entire body at once. All she could hear was Gaara's scream, and then nothing.

* * *

Naruto had expected something big to happen by now. They were standing in a field, how come the Akatsuki hadn't attacked them yet? Where was the giant drama bomb?

"I sense it too, Naruto." Kakashi muttered. How did he always know what Naruto was thinking?

"I wish Annie hadn't gone on ahead." Sakura sighed. "I'm worried about her."

"So am I, Sakura." Naruto nodded. Then again, he always worried about Annie-Chan. What if she got one of her attacks while she was flying? What if Itachi saw through her invisibility with his Sharingan? What if—

"Naruto, please, calm down. You'll give yourself an ulcer." Chiyo said. Naruto took a deep breath and just tried to enjoy the momentary break. He walked across the fields at a leisurely pace, taking in the view of the trees and the afternoon sky.

He stepped on something metal, making him almost lose balance after walking in soft grass.

He looked at what he stepped on.

What could that possibly be doing in the middle of—

Hold on.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! SAKURA! LEE-SAN! GAI-SENSEI! BAA-SAN!" He shouted, rising horror making his shouts sound much more desperate.

"Naruto! Hang on!" Kakashi ran to him as fast as he could.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Lee called.

"Naruto-Kun!" Sakura screamed.

"Defend yourself with your yo-o-outh, Naruto!" Gai shouted.

All Sakura could see was Naruto's back. His shoulders were shaking. She wondered if he was crying.

"Naruto?"

He turned around, and his eyes were bright red and slit-pupiled. In one hand, he had a leaf ninja headband. In the other, grains of sand sparkled in his palm.

"They've got her. They've got Annie-Chan, and they still have Gaara. Resting stops now."

**52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	6. Chapter 6

The small, hunched old man hidden in blankets and a long-brimmed hat studied the girl with piercing black eyes. Curls of blonde hair fell around her young teen face. Her blue eyes were wide open, but blank, like she was dead.

"You say she has the power of intangibility?"

"Yes. Like Tobi. And as annoying as that twit, too."

The man's eyes squinted. "And she can fly?"

"Yeah. So what? Her chakra is so weak, I can't even feel it. She can't have any of the tailed demons."

The old man looked at Deidara with his sharp eyes. "Some talented ninjas have the ability to hide their chakra. Don't be so stupid."

"But she's under Itachi's influence. There's no way—"

"Enough talk. Time is wasting. It's time to be extract Gaara's jinchuuriki."

"But, why are we keeping this girl in here? Why didn't we leave her in the field."

"Bait. For the nine-tails. Itachi said he and his team would come."

"How will know which one from the team it is?"

"He will be the first one to shout."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Annie awoke. She could barely move. She remembered nothing but darkness, and that was all she could see. She looked over and saw a huge chamber, Gaara floating inside. He was paler then ever, and blue chakra was flowing out of him, into the hands of a dozen man with greedy eyes.

She gasped, but the reflex jerked her lungs, and she sucked in the sour air of a gag around her mouth.

Chloroform.

She was out like a light.

Annie awoke again. She could move. She could stand. Her hands heated up quickly, and the bonds around her wrists exploded. She tore away the gag and untied her legs.

Annie stood, and in her mind, all she could see was Gaara, slowly dying, slowly fading away, his demon being sucked out of him.

She was supposed to have protected him. How could she have let this happen?

"Gaara-Kun!" She whispered. She charged at the chamber, wind making her a swift blur. Water slid down her arms and made sharp wolverine ice knuckles on her hands. She punched the chamber. Her strong, thick ice cut through the glass like diamonds, though her knuckles started to bleed. The chamber exploded open, strange liquid that stank of Orochimaru oozed out. Gaara collapsed on the floor of the chamber, barely breathing and unconscious. Annie grabbed Gaara, while black cloaks with blood-red cloud symbols surrounded her in a flash. She turned intangible and held Gaara close to her. She buried her face in Gaara's neck, not wanting to see so many enemies at once while she was still weak. She wished she could summon fire, or ice shards, or earth to attack them all, but she couldn't. She could only sit here and make sure Gaara was safe.

Deidara's voice cursed. "See? I told you. The legends are true. The Erementaru Hana is like a ghost."

"A beautiful one." A deep voice said. "Like an angel from the heavens."

"Go eat cow cud!" Annie shouted.

Many of the voices laughed. "An angel alright. I'm sure this girl could be useful to us besides bait."

"Bait?" Annie squeaked.

"Of course, kid. We're going to lure your kyuubi boyfriend here, with _you. _Two birds, one stone. Today's a good day for the Akatsuki."

"You'll never get your hands on either of them!" She growled, her eyes flashing bright blue as she faced them.

"On the contrary, you'll never be able to hold intangibility for too long. Your chakra isn't sufficient at all."

"I'd be worried if it was." Annie muttered under her breath. She didn't _have _chakra. She was a science experiment. Hadn't Orochimaru explained this to all of them? "I could be intangible long enough to get away from you!"

The old man raised a needle between his forefinger and thumb, the wrap around his mouth deepening into an evil grin as he did. He handed to another man, who's face was completely covered except for one eye with a swirled orange mask. He held the needle for a long moment, then dived at Annie. He somehow sliced Annie's arm with the needle, though she was intangible.

"H-how did you do that?" Annie held up her hand with the long, not particularly deadly, bleeding scratch.

Suddenly, Annie's vision doubled. Then tripled. The world swayed around her, and she got so dizzy that she collapsed on the ground. The needle had been poisoned.

She squeezed Gaara's hand. No. She wouldn't let this happen. She would _not _pass out. She would _not _pass out. Gaara was going to be intangible if it was the last thing she ever did.

If that poison was deadly, this might indeed be the last thing she ever did.

She held Gaara's hand. Pain started to rack her body. Passing out seemed like a comfort that she was denying herself.

No. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

As her eyes started to close, Gaara's eyes opened a little. She squeezed his hands tighter. Tears gathered around her blue starry eyes. Gaara stared into them, thinking they were a beautiful last thing to see before life was stolen from him.

"I-I'm sorry, Gaara. I've failed you. I...I can't..." She passed out. Gaara's fingers slipped away from hers. She wasn't conscious enough to tell if the last thing she heard was his voice or just a dream in her last moments.

_ "Annie. It's okay."_

* * *

**Hours later:**

"Naruto! _Naruto!_" Sakura stopped him before he could break down the huge stone door.

"We need to go in with a plan. If we don't, we'll risk Annie and Gaara's lives."

"If we wait any longer, we'll really risk Annie and Gaara's lives!"

Kakashi held Naruto's shoulder. "No, Naruto, she's right. But, unfortunately...we don't know what to plan for. All I can say for now is that our comrades' safety is first priority. Leave the fight to me until they are safe. Then, we all can gang up on them."

"I can fight too, despite my age." Chiyo straightened and looked Kakashi in the eye.

"Alright. Let's go. Plan or not, we have to go _now._"

Sakura did the honors of punching down the door with her great Tsunade strength, and they all ran inside. It was dark and none of them could really see.

"AKATSUKI! WHERE ARE YOU ALL? WHEREVER YOU ARE, I'M GONNA GRIND YOU INTO COW CUD FOR EVEN TOUCHING ANNIE-CHAN AND GAARA!"

"If that's not her kyuubi boyfriend, I'm not Akatsuki. I mean, seriously, they both have the same threats." Deidara said out loud. He was sitting something lumpy, with red hair at one end...

No. It couldn't be.

"_HOW DARE YOU SIT ON HIM LIKE THAT?!" _Naruto shouted at Deidara. An old man that sat next to him, muttered something in Deidara's ear, and Deidara responded, "I know, right?"

"Since we're done with this one, how about we try for the nine-tails, right, oldie?"

Kakashi stood in front of Naruto. "That's not happening."

Deidara grinned wickedly. "Oh, really, mask-face? Because I think Naruto himself will disagree with that."

Kakashi's pupil dilated. "Why?"

Deidara gestured towards the wall. Only then did Naruto see what was hanging on it.

"Annie-Chan! NO!"

**52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**

A/N

Hey, hey guys! Guess that movie! Or even better, finish the rest of the line!

"...HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR?! I AM ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED! YOUR FATHER AND I ARE FACING TRIALS BECAUSE OF YOU, AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! IF YOU _PUT_ ANOTHER _TOE _OUT OF LINE, WE'LL BRING YOU _STRAIGHT HOME!_..."


	7. Chapter 7

"No. No. No, no, no. This can't be happening. I can't...no...It's not real...It's a dream. He's lying. Please. Oh, Annie, please!" Naruto sobbed. As he tried to unhook her small wrists from the wall. She looked so tiny, delicate, and cold, just hanging there, like a fairy who'd heard the unbelieving words. The chains wouldn't unlock or break, and Annie looked like she was dying.

"What did you do to her?" He demanded with a low, deadly, poisonous voice he'd no doubt learned from Annie.

"I merely pricked her with a needle. Don't you worry. She's only sleeping." The old man covered in rags and a long-brimmed hat smirked, "For now. I could shoot a much more fatal needle at her, if you like."

"You could shoot yourself first, if you like." Annie muttered weakly.

Deidara raised eyebrows. "Awake, already? I thought you said it would be a full day and night. I'm disappointed, old man."

He scrutinized the needle in his hand. "I must have the sleeping draft weaker than I thought."

"Annie-Chan! Are you alright?" Naruto put his hands on her face and looked into her eyes. They were...broken. So sad and hopeless.

"No, Naruto-Kun. I—I failed. They took away...everything...and Gaara...is he really—?"

"Curious, yet time-wasting." The old man interrupted, "Anyways, you all know what the Akatsuki want. We want the Jinchuuriki, the nine-tails being no exception, _Naruto-Kun._"

"Over my freaking dead body." Annie muttered, but could barely yank on the chains.

"Annie, hush, they might take it literally." Naruto stood in front of her, his feet solidly planted to protect the one he loved.

"If you give us the nine-tails, we will give back Annie-Chan so that she may get hospital treatment and live. Hey, we might even throw in the body of the Kazekage so that you can give him a proper funeral."

"He's not dead! Stop sitting on him!"

"Seriously. That's weird. Sitting on dead people is...uber weird..." Annie gasped for breath.

"Annie, talking is taking up too much energy for you. Ssh!" Naruto scolded her, then turned back to face the two Akatsuki. "And you two...I...I can't..." He would do anything to save his friends, especially Annie, his girlfriend.

"No! He won't do it! You are Akatsuki, not to be trusted! You'd kill all of us sooner than keep a promise!" Sakura shouted.

"Well, fine than, I'll just kill off Annie, and—"

"No!" All three ex-Team 7 members screamed.

"Here I go, loading the poisoned needle in my shooter, and—"

"Hey, Akatsuki, go shoot yourself in the face with an AK-47, then get run over by a car, then jump off the Empire freaking State Building!" Annie screamed. Everyone stopped to take a minute to register what the heck she just said. Only Naruto sort of understood. She gasped for breath and began to speak again while everyone was silent.

"Listen, Naruto-Kun, them killing me isn't a big whopping deal, okay? I just go home if I die. Remember when I almost died when I was twelve, because of Kabuto and the Black and White ninjas? I almost went back. I saw my family for a flash of a second. It's only delaying the inevitable if I don't die right here and now. You, on the other hand, would be gone if they killed you. Kaput. By killing me, the Akatsuki gain _nothing_, and you lose _nothing_." She gasped some more. Everyone in the cave shared looks.

Naruto's eyes got a pained, unbearable look. "No. I want you by my side every moment, Annie-Chan."

"You can't be by my side if you're dead!"

He was silent for a while. "You're right. But I can't just watch you die, Annie. That won't happen."

"Then kick their butts!" Annie encouraged him.

"I like that idea." Kakashi grinned through his mask. Sakura smirked and pulled on fingerless gloves. Naruto turned and glowered at the two Akatsuki. He wanted to smile at his enemy, but then he remembered that they were sitting on Gaara's body. Anger rushed through him all over again.

"Let them go!" He shouted, then he made four clones, and Rasengan spun in two pairs of hands.

Deidara laughed. "Catch me if you can, loser." He lifted Gaara by his shirt and threw clay balls on the ground, running out the cave entrance as he did so. The clay exploded on impact.

Annie's world shook. Dirt and rocks flew up, blinding her view. Her wrists were cutting into the chains. Several minutes passed by as the dust around her settled. Only Sakura, Chiyo, and the hunched over Akatsuki remained in the cave.

"Naruto? Where's Naruto? NARUTO-KUN!" Annie screamed.

"He went after Deidara and Gaara, girl. Calm down." Chiyo tutted. Great, Annie thought. All she had by her side was Sakura—who was actually pretty strong, now, so that wasn't too bad—and an old lady. And Annie herself was tied up with thick chains she couldn't break. Maybe she could manipulate the metal...no, it was melded together with chakra. That wouldn't work. Besides, she hadn't done that for years.

"We must help Naruto get Gaara's body back." Sakura pounded her fist into her palm, "But we can't leave Annie."

"No, I'm fine! Leave me." Annie said, "I can take care of this old bucket of snot."

"That's gross, Annie. And there's no way that's going to happen, at least not until you're unchained from the wall." Sakura said, trying to match the stubbornness that Annie emanated.

"What a hero! And a waste of my time." The old man muttered, then shot several pin points at Sakura, who just barely dodged them. Chiyo's eyes grew wide as the pins kept shooting at Sakura. She jumped and dodged, but the pins kept shooting everywhere, barely missing her. The pattern was so unpredictable!

"No, it can't be...my grandson..." Chiyo muttered.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that that's my grandson, hiding under his own puppet! I helped him make these puppets myself! I understand the pattern of the needles!"

"Way to raise him to become part of the Akatsuki." Annie muttered under her breath.

Chiyo didn't seem to hear. She just raised her hands, and Sakura stiffened. Annie watched as Chiyo moved to dodge a needle, and Sakura did the same thing. At the same time. Synchronized.

"Whoa. How did you do that?" Annie asked with popping eyes.

"I'm controlling Sakura like a puppet."

"Like a boss." Annie grinned.

Frustrated, the old man\puppet dude turned to Annie and raised his hand, ready with needles.

"Turn intangible, Ann!" Sakura screamed.

"I-I can't!"

"What?"

"I can't! Orochimaru was here, and he...he took my powers away from me!" She started to sob, "I couldn't save Gaara. I watched him die and I couldn't do anything. Stupid...stupid chains..."

Sakura gasped. Nothing was stopping Chiyo's grandson from killing Annie.

Except Sakura.

She punched the earth with all of her might, and everything collapsed.

**52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Give him back!" The blonde screamed. His eyes were red with black slits. Red chakra burned around him as he jumped from one dead, fallen tree to the next in the huge ditch.

Kakashi glanced at him worriedly. He hadn't seen Naruto this riled up since...

Well, since the day before Sasuke left.

"Remember what Jiraiya said about your temper, Naruto." Kakashi muttered.

"I don't care! The Akatsuki deserve all of my temper!"

"I know they _deserve _it Naruto, but does Gaara?"

Naruto was silent after that, continuing the chase towards Deidara. He started running faster than Kakashi, his chakra burning.

"No, Naruto, you can't lose control—"

"I won't."

Kakashi studied him. "Okay, Naruto. Just remember why we're here. And who you are."

* * *

Annie rubbed her wrists. The chains had taken their toll on her skin.

"Gee, thanks, Sakura." She grumbled. The entire cave had fallen apart. Annie was lucky she hadn't ended up at the bottom of it with the puppet dude.

"You're welcome." Sakura shrugged and threw aside the needle she'd used to pick Annie's lock.

"Now, what? We go help Nar—"

A few feet away, a huge boulder was shoved aside, and a very angry, crumpling shrouded puppet rose from the earth beneath.

Annie sighed exasperatedly. "Are. You. Serious? WHY can't villains just DIE the first freaking time? Dude, you are wasting my time. Could you just lie down and die in the dirt? PLEASE?" Annie shouted. The others looked at her like she was a little crazy.

"He's_ trying_ to waste your time, Annie."

"I know. Bad people are stupid," She dug in her pocket and brought out kunais, "Just because you took away my powers, doesn't mean my years of Ninja Academy are gone. I'm still fast, and I'm still strong, and I can still kick your butt."

"Be careful, Annie." Sakura couldn't imagine that, after all this time, Annie didn't have her powers anymore. That was just...impossible. She was _Erementaru Hana_, right?

Chiyo's grandson shot needles. Annie yelped and barely jumped to the side in time.

"I cannot control both of you. Annie, I need you to leave."

Annie frowned. If she could just go intangible, she wouldn't feel so useless. Sakura had never been stronger or more powerful than she was.

Then again, it was about time. After all, Annie had to leave, and Sakura had to stay. Someone needed to take her place as the heroine of the town. Naruto needed someone to be his right-hand ninja. But if she so much as _batted_ a flirty eyelash at Naruto...

So help Annie.

"Annie, go!"

Annie nodded and jumped out of the huge crater in the earth. Something pricked the back of her neck, but she tossed the thought aside and ran.

_Is Naruto-Kun okay?_

* * *

Naruto tried to be completely focused on saving Gaara, but Deidara's mocking voice kept worming it's way into his head.

_You can't save him. He's already dead, sucker._

Meanwhile, his worry for his girlfriend was becoming sharper and stronger. If Gaara really was...gone, then why was Naruto chasing after him? Annie probably needed him more than the corpse did.

_No, he's not gone. They were bluffing._ He silently hoped. _Besides, Annie-Chan can take care of herself. She has all of the elements on her side._

The trees he and Kakashi ran on were no longer dead. They were alive, fresh, green, and standing upright on a flat surface of earth.

An explosion nearly shook him out of the tree. The chakra on his feet strengthened and he barely held on.

"KYUUBI-I-I-I! Don't you LOVE my ART?" An insanely shrill voice echoed in the distance.

"SHUT UP AND COME FIGHT LIKE A MAN, DEIDARA!" Then he thought of something he felt like Annie would say, "You _are_ male, right?"

He heard a shout of frustration, and there was another loud explosion, much closer and more dangerous. Naruto and Kakashi jumped out of the tree. Smoke clogged the air above them and blocked the sun.

"Ha-ha, see, I told you. You need to get your hair cut." A light laugh rang through the dark smokey forest.

"Annie?" Naruto whispered. Smoke rushed around him and Kakashi. He couldn't see anything within five feet anymore. That must've been Annie. That was her laugh. Where was she?

"Naruto, we have to get out of this smoke. It'll kill us. Get down on the ground." He ordered. Naruto laid on the ground stomach-first. He knew he should cover his face, too, but he kept his head up and watched for the dark silhouette of either Deidara or Annie.

"Where is he?" Annie's voice screamed. Her heard the sounds of fighting, grunts and cries and kunais clashing. Naruto began to get an idea of where Annie was. He started crawling towards her.

"He who?" Deidara shouted with amusement. "The he who is dead, the he who is choking on smoke, or the he who took everything you ever had away from you?"

Louder, more angry fighting. Deidara was making Annie mad. Some people might think that making their opponents mad would make their work sloppy and predictable, but not in Annie's case. Making _her_ mad was never a good idea. After all, she had all five elements on her side.

"You had a full life ahead of you. A family. But Orochimaru took you away from that, didn't he?" Deidara mocked. Annie screamed and knives clashed again. Naruto stood up and ran in the direction of her voice, no more sure then ever.

"And just when you were becoming _happy,_ he took your gifts away. The one thing you were sure he would never do, right? He's a scientist. He wouldn't _unmake _his creation."

"I am _not _his freaking creation!"

"And yet he's changed you so much. And now he's taken away the foundation. Everything you could depend on, he's taken away. Your family, your powers...why, even your friend, Sasuke."

The name took both Naruto and Annie completely by surprise. They'd managed to keep Sasuke away from their thoughts for a full twenty-four hours.

"HOW_ DARE_ YOU MENTION HIM?" Both Annie and Naruto screamed, and they both charged at Deidara. Naruto's vision cleared and he saw exactly where Deidara was. He saw Annie, and she saw him, and in that split second they nodded and an agreement formed between them.

Kill Deidara now. Then Gaara. Questions later.

Deidara threw a bomb, but Annie grabbed it and threw it back before it could explode.

So, Naruto thought. Did Annie not have her "jutsus" anymore?

Fine, then. She was still amazing with daggers, still strategic and resourceful, and still in tip-top shape. That was just fine. She still had all of the guts and wits it would take to save Gaara.

Deidara made clay birds with her gnashing palms, and the birds fluttered around Naruto. Annie threw four knives at a time. It killed most of them as Naruto jumped from one tree to the next and then pounced onto Deidara. The birds exploded, Deidara shouted something about art, and two huge fireballs grew around Naruto and Deidara. The fire blew Annie back, and fear that Naruto was nothing but ashes registered into her brain.

"Naru-Kun!" She screamed. She landed on something made of clay, and realized it was the stupid basket Gaara had been carried in. She opened it, and gasped with relief that Gaara was in there. She took Gaara's body and dragged it as far away from the explosion site as possible. She didn't want to think about the possibility that Naruto was in that explosion, severely injured or worse. She put Gaara down, then sprinted back, wishing desperately that she could still fly at a hundred miles per hour.

The trees, plants, and any other life within twenty feet of the explosion was decimated. Black, ashen death was all that was found of it.

She found Deidara's body first. His limbs were severely mangled, and most of his visible skin was blackened with burns. She felt for his pulse, but there was nothing but a sort of coldness creeping into his body.

_If Deidara's dead, and he practically had Naruto for a shield, then..._

_ No._

Her mind swam as she continued searching for Naruto. She heard a strangled grunt of pain somewhere, and saw Naruto. He had burns all over his body, like Deidara, and a log was pinning him down and preventing him from breathing. He was wheezing and his pupils were pin-point sized in shock. Annie gasped and rolled the log off of him as quickly as she could.

Before, she hadn't see the bloody, horrifying damage caused to his chest. His heart...it would fail soon...

"Naruto...No..." She waved her arms methodically to summon water from the air, but then realized it was pointless. She couldn't heal anymore.

"Can the kyuubi heal you?" She begged. He shook his head.

"Not fast enough, Annie-Chan. I...I'm sorry..."

Tears flooded her eyes. "There has to be a way." She held out her hands, desperately, and mentally begged for something to happen.

_Please. Please! Just a little bit of glowing water. PLEASE!_

Naruto tried to get up, tried to heal, but he knew, still. He knew it was pointless.

"Annie-Chan...I love you." He muttered.

Annie squeezed her teary eyes shut in pain. She wanted to say I love you back, but it suddenly felt like saying goodbye.

She raised her hands into the air once more and yelled, "I don't care what freaking snake-face did to me a few hours ago, I've been healing since I was twelve, I've had the power to since I was four, and I'm not giving it up yet. I'm healing my boyfriend NOW, and there's nothing anyone anywhere can do about it!"

Something in her mind snapped. A boundary. A limit.

An illusion.

Fresh water from the air sparkled and swirled around her hands, spinning and beginning to glow blue.

"Much better." She grinned. She pressed the water on Naruto's chest, and it exploded with blue light.

When she moved her hands away, the open wound, ripped flesh, and burned skin was smooth and tan.

"Oh, thank goodness." She sobbed and wrapped her arms around him.

**52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	9. Chapter 9

Sakura, Annie, Naruto, Kakashi, and Chiyo stood over the body of the red-haired Kazekage.

Naruto was sobbing, angry. Tears were falling down his face in a passionate way that had happened only a few times in his life. Annie knew why. Gaara had been the only person Naruto could ever truly relate to as being judged for being a Jinchuuriki.

The stupid Akatsuki had taken him away in order to satisfy their hunger for power.

_I will personally cut out their spleens with a spoon. _Annie thought darkly. She had never felt so much hatred as she did now. Gaara's life had just been becoming meaningful and almost happy, and now everything had been ripped away.

How...How could this have happened?

Who's fault was it really?

Annie remembered the look on Gaara's face as he'd died, slowly and painfully, as Shukaku was sucked out of him. She hadn't been able to do a thing.

And yet, she had.

She'd had her stupid powers all along, but Orochimaru had put some sort of mental jutsu block on them, and she'd merely thought she didn't have her powers.

If she'd just tried a little harder.

If she hadn't gone ahead of the group.

If she'd been more careful when she'd rescued him in the first place.

Then Gaara would be alive.

It was all her fault.

"There's still another way." Chiyo muttered. She sat on her knees in front of the body. Annie saw the grave look on her face. Her hands began to glow green.

Annie's jaw dropped. She saw the same shock on Sakura's face.

Gaara was already dead...the only way to bring him back would be...

The life-transfer jutsu.

She'd heard about it on her volunteer job at the hospital. Could Chiyo..._would _Chiyo really trade her life for Gaara's?

Chiyo began to sweat after a minute. Her green light started to fade. Naruto bent down and began lending his own chakra to the woman's cause.

If only he knew what she was really doing...

But neither she nor the other team members made any attempt to stop her.

Finally, after a long minute, Chiyo collapsed. The teammates gathered around her.

She was gone.

And Annie could hear Gaara's breathing.

Both relief and sad pain settled into her heart at the same time, followed by intense passion.

"Chiyo is the bravest and most compassionate kunoichi I've ever met in my life. Today, she suffered probably more than all of us, and yet she still gave her life to save Gaara. She was a true medic, a true ninja, and a true human." She said quietly. The others nodded.

"Her memory will be honored." Kakashi said. "We must take her body and Gaara back to the Sand Village."

Annie sat at Gaara's side. Her arms wrapped around her legs and her curly blond hair fell to her waist. Her white dress was stained with soot and blood. She looked emotionally and physically exhausted. She held Gaara's hand.

Naruto came and sat beside her. He took her other hand and silently intertwined it with his.

"He's going to be okay, now, Naru..." She whispered. He nodded.

"You're going to be okay, too." She said again, almost too quiet for even Naruto to hear. He didn't look fazed about it. Annie always seemed to be able to tell what was really bothering him.

If Gaara couldn't get a happy ending, then how could he?

* * *

Gaara blinked. He opened his eyes to blurry sunlight and blue sky. He felt the gentle warm breeze tickle his hair and the fresh green grass beneath him. His breathing was easy and gentle, and he felt no pain.

Something in him, that darkness and pain that had followed him his whole life, it was gone.

It left some sort of cavity in his heart.

He heard sounds. People, surrounding him. They were all...smiling at him. They were happy. Some were crying, but they were tears of joy. The brunette girl he'd trained in the Chuunin Exams a few months ago jumped in front of the crowd with a big smile on her face.

"Gaara-Kun, you're awake!" She cheered.

He looked at the indent of his body in the grass. He'd been sleeping...for a while.

"Ha-ha, well, look at that! Gaara has a fan club. That's so cute." He looked over and saw Annie and Naruto sitting nearby. Annie was smiling happily at Gaara. Naruto was lovingly playing with her hair.

"How long have I...what happened?" Gaara asked.

"Crash course for the unconscious Kazekage." Annie said. "You got kidnapped by Akatsuki. My team rescued you. A whole bunch of the Sand Villagers were worried and came over to see if we'd managed to keep you alive, and now you've woken up. Cheerio." She grinned and handed him a bottle of water.

"Oh." He muttered.

The villagers had been...worried about him?

The cavity inside of him...as he looked over the villager's and saw, no, _felt _their smiles, the hole filled up. Love was what he'd been missing for so long.

**52 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY.**


	10. Chapter 10

Annie gasped. She felt the pain shudder away and release her. Her whole body relaxed. Naruto held her tightly as she laid on the floor, sheet-white and limp.

"Is it over?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Annie, you're sweating." He said. "You've never sweat after an attack before. Do you think this could actually start becoming lethal?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. It's getting worse every week." She muttered. "But I've been feeling a little hot all day."

Naruto's eyebrows knit together in concern. He traced her forehead.

"You're really warm." He said.

"I'm fine, you adorable worry-wart." She said. "It's just warm today, and I really worked hard at the hospital this morning."

"In that nurse outfit of yours?" Naruto smirked.

"You know you like it." Annie replied slyly. Someone knocked on her log cabin door. She stood up waveringly and opened the door. Sakura stood there with Lee, their eyes growing absurdly wide as they noticed that Naruto was sitting on her floor.

"The heck were you guys doing in here?" Sakura asked with raised eyebrows.

Annie grinned. "Just kissing. Jeez. You guys are always telling us to get a room, and then we do, and you guys are like, EW!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "We were wondering if you guys wanted to hang out at the training place. Throw some knives, kick some butt, you know? It's been a while since we've trained together."

Naruto stood up and wrapped his arms around Annie's shoulders. "Well, we were just in the middle of having fun, but..." He grinned and went along with the kissing story.

Annie shrugged. "I suppose we could continue this later, right, Naru-Kun?"

"Of course." He said. They laughed as Sakura started to gag dramatically. Lee stared at them with clueless innocence.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Sakura patted on his shoulder. "Gai-Sensei will probably tell you when your older."

Annie laughed. "Okay, okay. Let's just go."

They walked down the forest path that led away from Annie's log home. The sun shined through the green leaves and Annie casually swooped around their heads and watched birds fly in v-formations. She spotted a white paper with a kunai pinning it to a tree. She flew down to get it.

It was another _Missing _advertisement. She frowned.

"There's been a lot of missing people lately, but no missions for it."

Sakura looked back and met Annie's eyes. "Weird, huh? I think it's because a lot of people that have missing friends or family can't afford to put it on a mission. All they can hope for is some kind and lucky soul seeing their loved one and calling in tips."

"If I lost someone I cared about, I'd want it to be an A-rank mission immediately." Annie muttered sadly.

_Sasuke..._

"Yeah. Come on, Annie."

As they walked through the village and found the old training field, the sun beat down on Annie. She felt hot, and a little lightheaded. She'd quit flying and started walking as they'd continued down the path. Flying suddenly seemed like a heavy burden. Her feet felt like bricks.

"Here we are, guys! This brings back memories. Look—that's where Kakashi always read his perv-books while we ran miles!" Sakura grinned.

Annie's stomach had been feeling sick all day, but now throwing up actually seemed possible.

"Ha, look at these little kunais! Some ninja academy students must've been playing here! Remember those days, Annie-Chan, Sakura-Chan, Lee-San?"

Dizziness threw her lightheaded mind for a spin. She couldn't stand to move, let alone try to remember three years ago.

What was this? This wasn't like an attack. If an attack was coming on, she could feel nothing but horrible, horrible dread, and then sudden, awful pain. Now, she felt sick. Horribly sick.

Fatally sick.

"Oi, Annie-Chan, how many of these cute widdle kunais do you think you can throw at the same time?" Naruto asked her with his back turned while he scooped up dozens of lost kiddie kunais.

"Uh..." She tried to answer with, _That depends on whether I throw them while I'm puking or after, _but nothing came out. Her own voice sounded tinny. The light around her burned into her eyes and she heard a high whining sound that came from nowhere. Everything was blurry and dream-like.

"Annie?" A voice echoed. "Annie? Annie, what's wrong?"

She tried to say something, but only a yelp came out as her legs gave. She saw blurry images. She felt and saw grass. She saw bright sky-blue eyes watching her and calling her name.

And then there was nothing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh. What's happening? What's wrong?" Naruto scooped up his passed-out girlfriend and begged Sakura for answers.

"Run with me to the infirmary while I scan her. It could be something as simple as dehydration, or heat stroke, and we can fix that faster than going to the hospital can."

Naruto ran, and Sakura ran beside him, her hands glowing green and pressed on Annie's head as she tried to figure out what was wrong.

"It's not...not natural, that's for sure...nothing like a heatstroke..." She strained as she tried to figure out more, then her hands quit glowing as she said, "Naruto, run as fast as you can. Poison."

Naruto finally burst into the running speed he'd wanted to go from the beginning. He jumped on the roofs of the village, ran over water towers, and exploded into the strangely inactive hospital. The lethargic nurses all winced in surprise as he walked up to them in a flurry.

"Please help. Annie-Chan, something's wrong with her. Sakura says it's poison."

The nurses fluttered around them. Annie ended up snatched away from Naruto's arms. He didn't want to let go, but he knew he would only get in the way of Annie's treatment.

"Get Tsunade-Sama! I've never seen anything like this!" One of the oldest nurses replied as they took her to the hospital room. Naruto's fear for Annie's life spiked.

"Please, Naruto Uzumaki, go to the waiting room. Anything you hear from this point on will only make you uneasy." A nurse told him. He didn't move. If he couldn't be with Annie in there, he'd try to be as close as possible.

The nurse shrugged. "Suit yourself." She turned and ran back into the room with jugs of water.

He heard doors slam open. He watched as Tsunade and her green cloak billowed by.

"Thank goodness." He said.

Tsunade met his eyes and said,"One of my finest healers are poisoned. Do you have any idea how this could have happened?"

"I don't know, Tsunade. I don't know why anyone would do this, except for maybe an enemy, but she doesn't really have enemies around Konoha."

She furrowed her brow. "Right. Go to the waiting room, Naruto. PREP THE PATIENT FOR SURGERY!" She shouted at the door. Naruto didn't want to argue with Tsunade, so he left.

** 47 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	11. Chapter 11

_Annie opened her eyes._

_She was in a hospital room._

"_No!" She bolted up. Not a hospital room. Not a hospital room. Please, don't let it be_ the _hospital room._

_She couldn't have died in Naruto's world, could she? If she'd come back here..._

_She looked around the room. There must've been some sort of sign that she was still in Konoha. Maybe less updated technology? Information about her illness?_

_It seemed updated and new to her. She found a clipboard on the desk next to her._

Annie Wilison: Shock\Injury induced comatose patient...female...no allergies or past medical issues on record...shot in the shoulder by a mysterious psychopath nine months ago...hasn't been conscious since.

_She gasped and almost dropped the clipboard._

_Annie was back._

_She had died...somehow._

_Annie couldn't remember much. Everything had gone foggy._

_She hadn't even been able to say goodbye._

_Tears filled her eyes. No. Please, no. This had to be a dream. Some kind of nightmare. _

_Suddenly, fresh air pumped into her lungs._

She woke up.

Naruto was sitting next to her, holding her hand, a world of worries and pain on his shoulders.

"Naru-Kun..." She muttered. "What happened?"

"You were struck by one of those poisoned needles by that Akatsuki guy who Sakura beat. Tsunade managed to save you, but...it was way too close, Annie. Way too close." He said, a few tears escaping his eyes. He held Annie's hand and Annie sat up to hug him.

"How did it not hurt me sooner?" She asked.

"The poison targets the heart, while hitching a ride in the chakra stream. You don't exactly have chakra, so...it was slowed up for a bit before it started attacking your heart."

"If his poison messes with chakra, that explains why his sleeping drafts didn't work on me very well. Does Tsunade know I don't have chakra, now?"

He nodded. "Yeah. She promised to keep a secret, but it took me a while to convince her that you're not really a ghost."

She smiled a bit. "Maybe those rumors about me are more true than we think."

He laughed. "Ghost or not, Tsunade's definitely keeping her eye on you. I hope she'll let you..." He trailed off.

"What?"

"There's this mission...You know, how Sakura pulled information out of Hana's grandson before he died?"

"Oh, yeah. That's in two days when Sakura has to leave and go to Naruto Bridge, right?"

"Yeah. Two days. Are you feeling up for it?"

"Of course. Honestly, Naruto, do you even have to ask?"

"I know, stupid question. A better one would be, will Tsunade let you go?"

"She can't stop me."

"She's the Hokage, Annie. Crossing her would be dire."

"I've been living outside of Konoha's laws since I was six. What'll they do, burn down my house? Hunt me down?" Annie demanded.

"Annie, Tsunade saved your life. The least you can do is follow her rules." Naruto pointed out.

She stopped when he said that. "Okay...Okay. Fine. If her final answer is no, I won't go. But I will irritate her until she says yes." She grinned.

Naruto laughed. He laughed and hugged Annie until he started to break down into tears.

"Annie...you were almost...I mean, you even faded out for a second. I thought you were disappearing forever."

She kissed him. "Don't think about that. Don't. Please. I...I saw the hospital room. I almost thought I was gone, too. It's still...still a long ways away."

"Forty-six days." He muttered.

She looked taken aback. "You've been counting, too?"

"Yeah."

"I want to stop. It hurts to think about. It's eating at me, and it's eating at you too, isn't it?"

"More like it reminds me to spend every moment with you as preciously as possible."

"So, lots of kissing?"

"Duh." He grinned and kissed her. She smiled on his lips.

The door opened. They tore away and saw Tsunade.

"You must be feeling better." Tsunade said with a raised eyebrow.

"Kissing is good at that." Annie said. Tsunade smirked.

"I'll say." She pressed her glowing green hands on Annie's head.

"In fact, I feel so much better, I could go on a mission."

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yeah. A pretty awesome one. One involving Sakura and Naruto and Naruto Bridge...?" She batted her eyes hopefully.

She was silent for a while. "We'll see." Then she stopped scanning and left.

"That's what my mom says when she'll say yes if I suck up to her."

"Tsunade's not a suck-up lover."

"No, but she'll say yes if I show her I'm totally healthy."

"But, Ann..."

"What?"

"It is possible you'll have an attack."

"And if I do, I'll hang back while you guys keep going. It'll last what, twenty minutes? Half an hour?"

Naruto looked sick. "Annie...the information we could get from it...the spy from Orochimaru...I don't want you anywhere near Orochimaru. And if you had an attack, you'd be helpless. If Orochimaru happens to be around, you'll be helpless."

"It won't happen!" She promised.

"Just like getting caught by the Akatsuki while you're scouting ahead didn't happen?"

She looked hurt. "I told you I was sorry for that."

He sighed. "I know. It still scared me, though. You still could've died."

"Oh, _I _could've died?" She said, pulling down the neck of his jumpsuit and tracing the scar on his chest.

His lips pressed. "Right. We all could have died, I guess."

"That's what being a ninja is about, Naruto. Helping people even if we'll die."

Annie took one look at Sai and wanted to punch him in the face.

He looked just like Sasuke, and his shirt didn't even cover half of his skinny white torso.

Just to bug Annie.

"And _why_ do we need this guy? I mean, it's great to meet some jolly new friends and all, but we already have _four _people, don't we? Four is standard, isn't it?"

Tenzo, the substitute for Kakashi, since Kakashi was still recovering from the last mission, sweat-dropped. "Be polite with your new teammate. You, Erementaru Hana, are nothing like the rumors say."

"You got that right." She grinned and wrapped her arms around Sakura and Naruto.

Everyone laughed at that, except for Sai, who Annie was finding stranger and stranger every minute.

"Dude!" She said, clapping him on the back. "Smile a bit. Being serious is for squares. We're gonna go on a super cool mission tomorrow, kick some butt, get information, then kick some more butt! How freaking great is that?"

"You like hurting others?" Sai said. Annie froze, losing sight of her excellent comebacks for a second. The mood dropped.

"It's my job to do what I have to do to help others, dude. I might as well enjoy kicking evil in the behind." She retorted. He shrugged, his face the exact same emotion every time.

"Your existence is becoming more irritating by the second." Annie growled.

"Okay!" Naruto said. "Glad to meet you, Sai. It's time to take Annie home. She'll accidentally bring down Konoha if she gets angry." He laughed nervously. Annie just folded her arms and glared at Sai angrily as Naruto literally dragged her away.

"See you guys tomorrow morning at Konoha's gate!" Naruto shouted. They kept walking until they came to Annie's house.

"Why did I want to come on a mission again?" Annie huffed.

Naruto pulled her body close. "To...kiss me a lot?"

She grinned. "Good reason."

**45 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	12. Chapter 12

Annie made a tally mark on her arm with a permanent marker for every different Missing Person poster she saw stabbed in a tree on the way to Naruto Bridge.

So far there was fifty-six, and her arm looked like she had seen the Silence. She shook her head. Weird. She hadn't randomly thought of a Doctor Who reference in years.

"I've never seen this many Missing Person posters in Konoha all at once." Sakura said.

"There's a lot of MIA ninjas too. Probably why we got stuck with white boy over there." Annie muttered, gesturing at Sai as he flew on his jutsu animated bird high in the sky.

"That's why you're not flying, isn't it? You don't want to even look at him." Sakura said. Annie shrugged.

"Something's wrong with him." Annie muttered. "I don't like it. I don't like these Missing Person posters either. There must be some sort of...mass slave heist going on, or something."

"Have you noticed a pattern in the missing people?"

"Not really. Old men, little kids, adults, kunoichi and shinobi. They're gone all over Fire Country. It's pretty sudden, too, as far as I can tell by a poster. I bet the Juunin have noticed all of this going on, by now."

"Maybe we should think about this later. You know, when we're _not _about to pretend to be a dead member of the Akatsuki talking to a spy of Orochimaru." Sakura snapped.

"We're not actually there, yet, Sakura. Jeez."

"Guys, there's _no way_ Kabuto is a spy." Annie whispered as they hid behind a bush. They watched as disguised Tenzo conversed with Kabuto on the bridge.

"In fact, I'm pretty sure Kabuto is practically attracted to Orochimaru." She muttered.

"Gross! Why would he be?"

"Heck if I know. Heck if I know what Kabuto _wouldn't _do for Orochimaru. I've seen Kabuto kiss-up to him, and boy, does he ever."

"Maybe it's to disguise the fact that he's a spy."

"It would take a lot more than kissing up to fool Orochimaru for that long. No, I'm sure Kabuto isn't a spy. We need to get out of here."

"How? Tenzo is already out there, and we all know we can't just leave him."

Naruto studied Annie as she thought. He looked over at Sai, noticing how close he sat behind Annie, and not liking it one bit.

"Fine. I've beat Kabuto before. I'll kick his butt again, with your help."

"You almost died that time."

"Yeah, alone. But now, I'm like, a billion times better and I've got friends."

"You've beat this guy before, Annie?" Sai asked.

"Yeah." She said absentmindedly.

His emotionless face seemed a bit impressed. He put his hand on her shoulder. She didn't notice and continued staring intensely at Kabuto, probably thinking the hand was Naruto's.

"Back off, Sai." Naruto whispered at Sai harshly. He yanked the hand away and put his arms around Annie's shoulders, who still seemed none the wiser. He knew he was being little bit jealous, but with Annie for a girlfriend, he kind of had to be. Besides, he was pretty sure anyone agree that Sai was being just a little _too_ friendly with Annie. Friendly without a single emotion on his face.

Tenzo stepped out of his disguise. The group of kids gasped.

"What's going on?"

"Kabuto exposed him. He knew from the beginning." Sakura said.

Tenzo raised his fingers and snapped them. The signal to come out of the bushes. Naruto turned to Annie and said, "You know what to do."

She stayed while the others flashed to Tenzo's side.

Naruto and Tenzo had told her that if anything happened, if Kabuto or Orochimaru found out about the spy, she had to hide. She had promised she would.

She almost regretted the promise. Almost. Deep down inside, Annie felt a little bit of fear twinge whenever Kabuto or Orochimaru was mentioned. They were powerful. Much more powerful than Naruto or even Tenzo knew. She still had the memory of the pain in her gut from when Kabuto had touched her and messed up her insides three years ago. Nothing has ever hurt more.

Physically, anyway.

She watched the conversations going on between Naruto, Kabuto, and Tenzo. She couldn't hear much, except for Naruto's rising voice.

Kabuto was taunting him, she could tell by his smirk. And it was working. Naruto's chakra was starting to glow red.

"No. No, no, no. Naruto. Don't lose control. Don't lose control. Remember what Jiraiya told you. Remember what the kyuubi _did _to Jiraiya!" She whispered.

She saw the concern on Tenzo's face, and Sakura's. She wondered...had Sakura ever seen the kyuubi in action? She hadn't, had she? Sakura was in for a thrill, then.

She could see the red chakra cloak forming a tail, two tails. His fingernails had grown into claws, splintering pieces of the bridge as he gripped the wood in rage. His teeth were undoubtedly fanged and his eyes red, but she couldn't see his face from here.

A third tail grew. The chakra exploded around him, wind kicking up to fifty miles per hour, his red chakra flailing everywhere. The bridge began to shake. Sakura stood up and backed away from Naruto. The bridge snapped and twisted and went flying. It flew towards Annie, flinging Sakura and Sai and Tenzo over the cliff. Annie ran as fast as she could through the trees, barely dodging the bridge. She was about to expose herself and run out to save the others, but she saw Sai paint a bird and grab Sakura and Tenzo.

At four tails, he would lose any control he had left.

She couldn't let that happen.

She turned invisible and intangible and flew towards Naruto. There would normally be no way she could fly through the debris and disastrous winds his chakra was generating, but being intangible, nothing could stop her. She stepped in front of Naruto. He looked right through her, roaring at Kabuto with fanged teeth. Tears came to her eyes as she caressed his face. Naruto looked...disturbed for a second. He couldn't feel Annie's hand, but her presence was strong enough to shock him.

She held Naruto's head in her hands, and hugged Naruto's head to her heart.

He couldn't touch her, he couldn't see her, but he could hear her heartbeat. As he calmed down and the burning chakra began to fade, she became just barely, _barely_ tangible, and Naruto could feel the beat of her heart and her caressing fingertips.

She whispered in his ear, "It's okay, Naruto. I'm here. Get a hold of yourself. No kyuubi."

His eyes faded back to blue. Tiny bits of his skin had burned away, but otherwise he seemed fine. Annie could heal that later.

"Well, that was a fast mood swing." Kabuto commented. "Disappointing. Guess you'll never hear about Sasuke's whereabouts."

Annie's fists clenched. She stepped right next to Kabuto's ear, still intangible and invisible, and screamed, "YOU THINK WE CARE WHERE THE CRAP SASUKE IS?!"

Kabuto winced and covered his ears, almost falling to his knees. "Why, hello, Annie." He said shakily, trying to act like his eardrums weren't broken.

"WE DON'T CARE WHERE THAT IDIOT TRAITOR WENT! I NEVER WANT TO SEE THAT STUPID FACE AGAIN! HE BETRAYED US! HE NEARLY KILLED NARUTO AND ME! HE FREAKING KNOCKED OUT SAKURA! HE TRIED TO KILL KAKASHI, TOO! IF I EVER SEE HIM AGAIN, I'LL SIC EVERY ONE KAKASHI'S DOGS ON HIM! HE MEANT A LOT TO US, AND HE JUST IGNORED IT AND TORE IT APART AND FREAKING LEFT!" Her voice cracked.

"Annie! Annie-Chan!" Naruto ran blindly to the sound of her voice. Annie turned tangible and hugged Naruto. Naruto stood there, acting like he wasn't hugging her, until her invisibility faded out, too. Then he hugged her tightly.

"Calm down, Annie-Chan." He said.

Kabuto cleaned his glasses and tried not to act disturbed by her screaming.

"I'd say that according to both you and Naruto's reactions to his name, you cared a lot about him. And you still do."

"Yes, because death threats show so much love." Annie's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Or so much sadness." Kabuto said.

"I want to rip out his kidneys." Annie said.

"Apparently."

"Then fill his lungs with sawdust."

"So much tragedy."

"Horribly tragic." She said sarcastically, "Now, while I'm hugging Naruto, I suggest that you and whoever's watching us in the trees leave."

Kabuto wasn't surprised by her quick observation. "Not until we get what we want. One thing would be the nine-tails—" He looked at Naruto. "And the other would be Orochimaru's favorite experiment." Naruto held Annie tightly.

"No." Annie said. "Go away, you creep. Go kiss-up to your little snake-face boyfriend."

Kabuto didn't look fazed by the remark and turned around.

Annie looked where he was looking.

Orochimaru walked out of the darkness, grinning his creepy little grin.

**43 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	13. Chapter 13

"Let's get out of here." Annie muttered in Naruto's ear. "No point in staying. They won't tell us where Sasuke is, and we're in a lot of danger."

"No." He said. "I'm sick of him. He's always messing everything up in our lives, and when he's gone, a lot of our problems will be over." He growled, his pupils becoming slightly cat-like.

"But, Naruto, if you kill him, I might not be able to go home."

"I won't kill him. Just maul him a bit." His eyes began to flash red

"No. No kyuubi, Naruto. You know perfectly well how to stay out of the kyuubi's chakra. Control yourself." She said. He took a deep breath and his eyes were normal again.

He took a step forward, and Annie just about went ballistic. "Wait, what are we thinking? Orochimaru's freaking psychotically powerful. We're leaving. Ditching. _Now!_" She grabbed at his wrist, but Naruto shrugged her off.

"Annie, I'm taking him down. Right here and now. I will win. Help me, or don't."

"Fine." They both charged at Orochimaru. Annie's hands lit on fire and Naruto summoned a clone. Orochimaru stood motionless, gesturing for Kabuto to stay where he was.

"Want to try out that new move?" Naruto said.

"Heck yeah, I do." The flames in her hand exploded with white-hot excitement. Rasengan swirled in Naruto's hand. Their powerful hands joined together.

"Fire Rasengan!" They shouted together, then raised their hands and shot white-hot, electric blue flames that swirled and burned and cut apart everything in it's path. Orochimaru moved, but Annie and Naruto's attack followed his movements like a lazer, destroying the forest in front of them. Annie's other hand took three kunais and dipped them for half a second in the flames, then threw them before her hand could be scalded.

Orochimaru was able to evade the huge deadly torrent of Fire Rasengan, but he didn't see the kunais in time. After flying a hundred feet, one knicked his shoulder, another stabbed his calf, and the third went awry and the handle hit his forehead.

"Wow, that was a terrible throw." Annie muttered.

"Well, seeing as how your hand would burn off if you held them any longer, and there's a lot of trees..." Naruto shrugged. "I'd say...not too bad."

Orochimaru screamed in pain and fell. He collapsed into the smoking trees and out of Annie and Naruto's sight. The two ran into the forest to find him and finish the job.

Orochimaru lay on the forest floor, weak and limp and shivering in pain. He moaned and looked at Annie with desperation. Electricity sparked in her hands with deadly purpose.

Naruto approached her apprehensively. "Annie...electricity is a bit much...I thought you said you wouldn't kill him..."

Bitterness from past years burned into hatred in her gut. She clenched her teeth as she thought of all of the things Orochimaru had taken from her. All of the lives Orochimaru had stolen or hurt. Sasuke...the third Hokage...the people used for his experiments...her family...her friends...Team 7...

"I changed my mind." She growled and raised her hand, where a purple energy ball zapped and grew as every sin Orochimaru had ever committed crossed her mind.

Orochimaru's eyes grew wide. "Annie-Chan...you won't kill me, will you?...I...I gave you your power...I am the reason you have your life here...You wouldn't even know Naruto if...if I hadn't..."

Annie's energy only dimmed a little when he said that, and then she reminded herself that if Orochimaru had his way, she never would've run away and met Naruto. She would be in parts in his little jars. Her mind clouded with anger. She wanted to kill this man. She wanted him gone, badly.

"Yeah, right, sicko." She muttered, then slammed her electric hand down toward his chest.

"No! Karu! Stop!" Naruto shouted.

In the back of her enraged, revenge-seeking mind, she heard Naruto call her _his light_. It was just enough to stop her hand, just inches before the fatal impact.

She realized what she'd been doing.

She was trying to do what she'd been telling Sasuke not to do for years.

Take revenge. Kill. Murder for satisfaction.

"Ah..." She gasped and stepped backward too quickly. She tripped and Naruto caught her.

"Looks like you had a little kyuubi moment of your own, there." He muttered. Annie nodded numbly, staring at her hands in shock. Naruto glared at Orochimaru.

"You deserve every pain, every death there ever was and ever will be, but you aren't worth tainting her hands with blood. I hope you stay lying on the ground and die, but it probably won't happen. Any second now, your suck-up is gonna come crawling back and heal you. You will die someday, soon, Orochimaru, but it won't be Annie who will kill you. I will never give you that pleasure. Someone low and filthy and unskilled will finish you off, and leave your whole life pointless and unfulfilled." He said, and with that, he scooped Annie up and walked away from Orochimaru, disappearing in the trees.

As Naruto stepped on the bridge, carrying a dazed, barely conscious Annie, he heard a laugh. It was a familiar laugh that shot chills down their spine. It sounded like the edge of insanity, amusement because of bloodshed.

"Oh, Annie, after all of those years of you bossing me around and telling me revenge is bad and all, you almost do it? Tell me, how does it feel to hate someone so much that you want to kill them?"

Naruto froze. He turned around, slowly. His heart stopped when he registered black raven hair, pale skin, and dark piercing eyes.

"S...Sasuke?" He stuttered. He heard footsteps behind him. Sakura ran to where Naruto stood.

"Sasuke..." She gasped.

He didn't move or say a word. He was like a statue, cold and calculating. Just like always. He didn't even look that much different, except that his chin was more set, and he wore long black pants and a thin off-white shirt with wide sleeves that exposed most of his chest. He was much taller and muscular.

Sakura spoke hoarsely. "Sasuke...won't you come home now?"

Sasuke's eyes scrutinized Naruto, then slid to Annie's sleeping face.

"She looks a bit different. More angelic."

Naruto pressed his lips. "You've long lost her. When you ran away when she needed both of us most, you lost her forever."

His expression didn't change, except for his slightly narrowing eyes. "I know. She was everything to me. And now I've lost everything."

"Don't you get it? She _wasn't _everything to you. That was the point. Your revenge got in the way. In fact, it almost got her killed. And then you _left _her, not caring whether she died or not." Naruto turned around, Annie's long curls flying as he moved. "I thought I wanted you back at Leaf, for Annie's sake. For Team 7's sake. For _your _sake. But remembering how you ran away has changed my mind. Sasuke Uchiha, you are too much of a coward to be a Leaf Ninja."

Sakura saw the break in Sasuke's expression. A flash of true pain crossed it.

"Naruto, you promised me you would bring him back." Sakura sobbed.

Naruto met her green eyes. "I can't bring back someone that no longer exists. He isn't Sasuke Uchiha. He's just another rogue."

Her lip quivered. "Oh...Naruto...Sasuke..."

Sasuke stepped up. "Annie just nearly killed Orochimaru out of revenge. Just because I've pursued mine, how am I any less of a Leaf Ninja?"

Naruto growled. "It's not about revenge anymore! You tried to kidnap her and bring her back to the person that she ran away from, then you left her to die! You tore apart Team 7! Annie would never hurt people she loved just to get back at Orochimaru!"

Naruto walked away, unable to bear the idea of telling Annie any of this when she woke up. Sakura followed him, tears falling down her cheeks.

Even she could see it.

He wasn't their Sasuke anymore.

** 43 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	14. Chapter 14

Everybody was lying to Annie.

She'd woken up in her cabin more then a week ago, after passing out from shock or whatever that was. How seriously lame was that? She put her friends and Naruto in danger just because she had a little emotional problem. She wished she had bucked up and stayed awake.

After she woke up, everyone, even Naruto, acted strangely around her. Whenever she asked a question about what had happened on the mission, her friends and senseis tried to casually avoid it. Annie was smarter than to go along with it. She knew something was up. Something had happened after she'd fallen unconscious.

Naruto, especially, had been acting weird. He didn't seem excited whenever she mentioned going on a mission to find Sasuke. In fact, he would always try to change the subject.

Annie knocked on Naruto's apartment door with a purpose in mind. She _had _to convince him to come with her on her newest lead.

He opened his door, his eyes growing wide as dishes and a grin spreading across his face.

"Annie-Chan! I haven't seen you all day! Come in! I was just making some minute ramen, want some?"

"Sure, Naruto. I just got out of the hospital. I actually came to talk to you about something."

Naruto glanced at her nervously as they entered his kitchen. "Oh? That's the scariest sentence in the world."

"Oh, don't worry. This..._shouldn't be_ scary." She said, as wistfully as possible. "You of all people should be the most motivated for it, actually."

Naruto up-downed her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Finding Sasuke." She said firmly. "I have a good lead and I'm following it this weekend, whether Tsunade allows it or not."

And there it was, that flash of panic that had crossed his face every time she'd mentioned him.

"Ah, Annie..." He smiled weakly. "I'd love to go, but I already got assigned a mission. Both of us did. I was meaning to tell you, but..." He shrugged. "I haven't been able to find you all day."

"Naruto, you'd be able to find me if you actually looked for me." She rebutted. "You and everyone else are not being honest with me."

He pressed his lips. "Annie... I..."

"Naruto, come on. What happened while I was unconscious? What's happened with Sasuke?"

The microwave beeped. Naruto got two cups of ramen out of the microwave, silently. Annie took the cups from him and slammed them on the table, splashing soup everywhere.

"Naruto Uzumaki! Tell me the truth, right now!"

Naruto winced, then composed his face. "I'm sorry, Annie. I don't want to tell you because I know it will hurt you. And...and me."

Annie took a shakey breath and calmed down. "What? What will hurt me?"

"Sasuke showed up a few minutes after you passed out. I...I got angry with him. I told him I didn't want him to come back anymore."

Annie's jaw dropped. "What? Why would you say that?"

He frowned. "I'm sorry, Annie. To be honest, I still don't want him back. He hurt people that he supposedly cared about; Me, Kakashi, Sakura, you, just for a chance to get back at Itachi. I remembered that, and I couldn't help but tell him off."

Annie looked horrified. "But—but—"

Naruto couldn't stop. He was on a roll. "That's not the worst part. At that point, I didn't care about Sasuke anymore, but I still didn't want him to be on the ANBU hit-lists as an official rogue. Somehow, word about what I said got to Hokage Tower. They put him on the hit-lists, because I said I didn't care anymore. He's a real and honest rogue, now. We can't rescue him anymore."

Annie just stood there, frozen. Her blue eyes teared up. "B-but...I could've...he's still...no..."

"I'm sorry, Annie. It's all my fault. I knew you wanted him to come back and I still said that stuff."

She grimaced. "No, no. It's my fault. It will always be my fault. I should've...I could've...I hate myself for what I did to him. I broke his heart. I _let_ him like me, and then I tore him apart."

Naruto's heart winced as she said that. He always tried to forget that Sasuke had loved her—maybe even still did—but it always came down to that. Maybe, deep down, he'd always wanted Sasuke to leave the village, out of jealousy.

"No, Annie, it's not your fault. He made his choice. You gave him lots of chances and he screwed them up. Please...please don't cry, Ann." He embraced her and kissed her forehead as tears ran down her cheeks. After a few minutes of standing in the kitchen, hugging, Annie looked at the cups of ramen and giggled.

"Your ramen is getting cold, Naruto."

"Yeah, but I can't risk letting you get cold." He grinned. She smiled back and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him.

"Smooth." She muttered as she pulled back. "So, were you serious about being assigned on a mission? Because I do want to be on one. The hospital is starting drive me nuts."

"I was assigned with Neji, Lee, and Gai-Sensei. They didn't mention you, but, I'm sure they won't mind if you tagged along..." He grinned wickedly. Annie got a little thrill every time he smiled like that.

"It's not a super big mission. Barely a B-rank, but...well, Tsunade says that this mission could be linked to a whole lot of other cases, so it could be as important as an S-rank."

"What do you mean? What's the mission?"

"There's an important noble family who's missing a child in the southern part of the Fire Country. They think the kid's been kidnapped for ransom. Tsunade says that with the hundreds of missing cases that have been coming in, all saying similarly strange things about random disappearances, there could be some weird kidnapping cult going around the Fire Country. If we could somehow find a way that it's connected...anyway, yeah. It doesn't seem that exciting, but it's something."

"It has potential, that's for sure." Annie said, thinking about the hundreds of fliers for missing people hanging around the forest. Every one of them had one thing in common: The disappearance had been completely random. It didn't matter whether they were a kid or an old person, or whether it was nighttime or daytime, or whether their friends or family looked away for a split second. They just disappeared. Looking into one incident could lead them to figure out the link, and maybe put a stop to the kidnapping.

"We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. You're in, right?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, yeah." Annie nodded. She looked forward to it.

Naruto smirked as Neji laid out the plan for the mission without a clue of Annie's presence. He could detect chakra easily, but Annie didn't have chakra, so she could float over his head and Neji would never know. Naruto and Annie hadn't discussed when she would reveal herself to the team, but he had a feeling she wouldn't until they were well out of Konoha. Naruto had suggested that maybe she could ask Tsunade to go with them, but Annie stated that she knew Tsunade wouldn't let her. Besides, that wouldn't be any fun.

"Er...Naruto?" Lee asked.

"Yeah?"

"I thought Annie would want to come to this."

"She did, but Tsunade wouldn't let her."

"Annie doesn't normally listen to Tsunade, though."

Naruto laughed. "Trust me, Tsunade's beat a little fear into her these last few years." He lied. As if.

Neji cleared his throat. "Uh, guys. I was talking about who the spokesperson of our group is going to be?"

"You, right?" Naruto said.

"Yes. Me."

"Shouldn't Gai-Sensei speak, since he is eldest?" Lee pointed out.

Neji glanced at Gai, who was doing cartwheels down the road. "I think he won't mind if I speak." He said, his empty silver eyes betraying critical appraisal.

"Okay, then. Shouldn't we go now?" Naruto asked.

"Fine. We have a long ways to travel. Lee, get Gai to start doing cartwheels in the _right _direction. Let's go."

As Naruto started his long run through the forest trees, he felt Annie take his hand and fly next to him. He smiled once again as her secret presence made him feel like the luckiest guy on the planet.

**36 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	15. Chapter 15

"Konichiwa, Taitube-Sama." Said Neji as he and his three teammates entered the fancy dojo.

"Konichiwa, Leaf Ninjas. You must have come to heed my call?" An elderly man with satin red and white robes sat on his knees with two bodyguards at either side.

Neji and the others sat on their knees across from Taitube. "Yes. I am Neji, and this is Mite Gai, Lee, and Naruto Uzumaki. We will do everything we can to find your son."

He nodded stiffly. "Excellent. The success of your mission means more than anything in the world to me and my wife."

The four leaf ninjas nodded. "Of course. Is there anything you can tell us about your son? Do you have any pictures of him that we can see? Who might have a grudge against your family?"

The man offered Neji a picture of a smiling family of three. Taitube had his arm around his lovely wife, and both of them had their hands on the shoulders of a child who looked about ten-years-old, with curly brown hair and a spray of freckles from cheek to cheek. Neji took the picture and studied it. The parents definitely loved their child more than anything else in the world, the way they presented him so proudly and lovingly.

"His name is Haruko Taitube. He's always been a happy and very bright child, and I can't imagine that he would run away. Besides, there are many reasons someone would kidnap him. Our family is rich and old, with many secrets and much power. Kidnapping has been a repeated offense against this family for years for the sake of ransom. But..." He shook his head. "It does not make sense. He...he was in the house, surrounded by our bodyguards. My wife, my mother, my brother, and I were only a few feet away. Then I looked over at where he'd been playing with his toy trains, and he was gone. He didn't even take his trains. At first, we thought it was one of his games of hide and seek, but...we never found him. He's been missing for four days."

Naruto saw the sadness in the old man's eyes and couldn't bare it. "Don't worry, Taitube-Sama, we'll find Haruko and bring him home!" He promised. Taitube glanced at Naruto, strangely confused and comforted by the confidence in Naruto's voice.

"Thank you. Now, be off. Find my son." Taitube ordered. The ninjas nodded and left the dojo with haste.

"Sounds just like the other Missing Person cases we've been hearing about." Naruto muttered as they left. He felt Annie's invisible hand grasp his, squeezing it in agreement.

"I know." Neji said. "I have a bad feeling about this. All of these strange disappearances all over the Fire Country..."

"Some sort of group might be spreading out and kidnapping people for some reason." Lee suggested.

Gai knit his bushy black eyebrows together. "But how could people just...disappear like that? All over the Fire Country, especially?"

Neji scanned the gardens that surrounded them, his Byakugan working overtime. "No chakra bodies anywhere for at least five hundred meters, except for the guards and Taitube. Oh, and some insects and birds in the garden."

"If Haruko were to be...dead, then could you still detect him, Neji?" Naruto asked.

Neji nodded. "Yes. The chakra usually doesn't fade out for at least a few weeks."

"Alright, then. Should we split up and interview some people around the neighborhood?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. Be careful, though. Some of the families in this area are just as old and powerful as Taitube's. Show them very high respect, or you will get no answers."

"Let's meet here in two hours."

Naruto nodded, then turned around and took off down the road. He felt Annie's wind power next to him as he ran. The first house he came to was about as fancy as the Taitube house. He ran up to the gate, where two big guards stood outside.

"Hello." Naruto said. They didn't even look at him.

"Uh, can I ask the master of this house some questions?" They continued ignoring him.

"Hey, guard dude, I'm a leaf ninja on a mission for the Taitube family. May I be welcomed into this house so that I can ask the master some questions?" The guards finally registered his voice, only to raise their giant swords threateningly.

Naruto winced and backed up. Then, he felt Annie's hand tug him behind a stonewall, out of sight of the guards. She appeared in front of him.

"Hey, good to see you." Naruto whispered with a smirk.

She smirked. "Punny, Naruto. Listen. I've got a plan for getting some answers around here. We need to play the honor card."

"Honor card?"

"Yeah. After all, what noble guard ninja would leave a fair young girl out in the streets?" Annie grinned wickedly before fluttering her eyes and swooning dramatically in Naruto's arms. Naruto smirked as she opened one blue eye at him.

"You are such a temptress."

"Of course."

"How did I manage to snag you, again?"

She shrugged, "No idea." Then smiled, like she was obviously being sarcastic.

Naruto wanted to kiss her right then, but he remembered the plan. If this family _did _know something about that missing kid, they could save his life.

He scooped Annie completely up, and she closed her eyes again and went limp. He ran back to the guards with pretend haste.

"Oh, please! Can you help her? She's hurt! I'm not sure what's wrong—she just passed out—she's shivering! I don't know if this is heatstroke or regular stroke or hyperventilation or a heart attack or a seizure or what! Please help!" The guards looked at him without any sign of hostility.

"Oh my gosh, she's not breathing anymore!" Naruto pleaded. "She needs help! Oh, please, if you have any honor, please help her! I love her more than life!"

After another second, the guards moved and opened the gates, gesturing for him to hurry.

"Thank you. Thank you so much!" Naruto said, then ran in with Annie. She opened one eye and grinned at him.

"Nice going, Naru. You may be an actor, yet."

Naruto tried not to damper their small victory with what he'd really been thinking. He'd simply remembered what it had felt like on the many times Annie actually had been in danger.

He carried her down the walk, surrounded by beautiful exotic plants and flowers. He walked up to a huge, fancy door that towered above them. He could only imagine what the inside of the giant house would be like. He knocked on it with rapid insistence. A few minutes later, someone opened it. A guy about their age, with swept brown hair and hazel eyes. He was muscular and about an inch taller than Naruto, a huge sword hanging at his hip. He regarded Naruto coldly, then studied Annie with increasing interest.

"Please help. She's dying." Naruto begged once again, spilling the same story he'd fed the guards.

The boy opened the door wider and stepped outside. He took Annie from Naruto's arms, which ticked Naruto off.

"Hey—!" Naruto objected, but was cut off with a glare from the boy.

"Strangers are not allowed in this house. I will bend the rules for her, but no more."

As he closed the door, Naruto felt panic shoot through him. He did _not _like the idea of some guy carrying Annie into this weird house.

He sighed. Annie was a big girl. She could handle it.

But that wouldn't stop him from exploring the house.

**36 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	16. Chapter 16

"Are you sure you're fine?" The boy asked Annie for about the forty-second time.

"Yeah. Really. I...I don't know what came over me." She fanned her face for a second. "A little hot in here, isn't it?"

He blushed, probably thinking about billions of perverted things. It would've been almost cute, if his face wasn't so pinchy, and his forehead frown lines weren't so deep. Plus, Annie knew that his personal intentions for Annie weren't exactly virtuous. "Uh..." He ran to the thermostat. "No...it's actually a solid twenty degrees Celsius in here."

Annie took a second to translate that in her mind. That was an average room temperature, about seventy degrees Fahrenheit.

"Oh, really? It's too hot to think."

"I—I'll turn it down if you want!" He said.

"No. I doubt the thermostat would do anything. I need some water."

He nodded. "Right away!" He ran off to get Annie a drink.

Annie smirked. She had this guy wrapped around her finger. She didn't feel bad about it either. On the way to the infirmary, he'd yelled at some of his servants, commanding them with a tyrannical tone that made her want to punch him in the nose, but she'd held back.

Now, she just needed to manipulate him enough to see if he had any information about that missing kid, Haruko.

After a few minutes, he came back into the room with water. She thanked him and took a drink, then declared that she felt much better.

"I should go find Naruto, now." She said, with just enough uncertainty in her tone that the boy started to object.

"No, no! You're sweating, still. You're forehead feels so warm! And—and I've got plenty of water! You'll pass out on the spot."

"Are you sure? I feel fine. I thought it was just a heatstroke."

"No, really! You must have a terrible fever."

"Oh!" Annie pouted. "I do? But how will I help Naruto?"

His expression turned a little cold. "Who is he to you?"

Annie turned up the cute level in her pouting. "My brother! He's looking for a missing kid, and I want to help him!"

When she said that, she watched for a change in his expression. A flicker of suspicion, fear, or caution.

Instead, he looked absolutely smitten with her. "I'll help! You and I will work together to find this child! Who is it? Where did they live? Who are the suspects?"

Annie felt satisfied by his sucking-up. "The child's name is Haruko, of the Taitube family, next door. Is there anyone else who lives in this house?"

"No. Just me and my servants." He said. That did it. She was imagining that his rich parents would walk in at any second, but this guy lived alone, and he hadn't allowed Naruto to come in with her, the creep. She'd assumed that that was just his parent's rules. Nope.

"Then you've helped a lot already. Thank you—uh..."

"Shu."

"Oh, thanks, Shu. I'll be going now."

His jaw dropped. "But—But—"

She patted his cheek as she opened the door to exit the infirmary. "You were such a big help. I really must get going with my _boyfriend, _Naruto."

"But you said—" His cheeks grew pink. His frown lines thickened. "You _lied _to me? You _used _me?"

"I'm sorry, Shu the pervert, but it simply had to be done." She shrugged. "See ya!" Then she disappeared. Well, she turned invisible, but to Shu, it had seemed she had disappeared forever. He shouted with rage and kicked over an expensive-looking vase on a pedestal.

"SERVANT NUMBER 35! I want ramen! NOW!" He shouted at several passing by servants. "SERVANT NUMBER 42, YOU'RE FIRED! What do you mean, for what? You were STARING at that floor tile TOO MUCH!"

Annie rolled her eyes and faded through the floor. She felt awful for stabbing Shu in the back and putting all of his servants in misery, but at the same time, his expression when he finally figured it out was _too _hilarious. He totally deserved getting burned like that.

She found Naruto climbing the trees in the big, fancy garden, trying to peek through windows.

"Naruto-Kun, come down from there." Annie shouted loudly. He fell off of his branch in surprise. Annie manipulated the wind so that his landing was gentle.

"Thanks." He muttered. "What happened? He didn't touch you, did he?"

Annie grinned. "Ha, no. I had that dude wrapped around my little finger. And trust me, he's pretty ignorant of the kidnapping."

He nodded. "So, nothing. Who's next on the suspect list?"

She shrugged. "It's been like, twenty, thirty minutes. I hope Neji, Lee, or Gai have come up with something by now."

Naruto shook his head. "Something about this case...about all of the recent Missing cases..."

"I know. Something's not right."

"Oh, well. Let's look at some other neighbors and explore a bit. This place is stuffed with suspicious rich people." Naruto grinned. Annie laughed.

They left the garden and explored the other houses. With some, they had to use Annie's original damsel-in-distress tactic, with others, they were welcomed as soon as they said they were Leaf ninjas. With a few, Annie had to float in and check the place out intangibly.

All of the houses in the "suspicious rich people" neighborhood ended up checking out.

When Annie and Naruto finally realized the time, they cursed. Neji was going to kill them!

Annie and Naruto flew to the Taitube garden, where Neji was tapping his foot impatiently and Lee was going pale with fear for his friends safety.

Neji noticed Naruto flying and lost his cool, starting to stammer as he landed.

"Wh—what?" He stuttered., then Annie appeared. Lee grinned.

"Annie-Chan! I knew you would come around sooner or later!"

"Oh. Oh, my gosh." Neji blinked a few times. "I...I couldn't see you with my Byakugan. I still can't."

Annie grinned. "Just one of my powers. Aren't I amazing?" She lied. In truth, she didn't necessarily have _chakra _to begin with, and she wasn't about to go into the explanation of that. Naruto was already convinced the people in New York were zombies.

Neji folded his arms. "Can't one of your powers be being on time?"

"I already do, but I choose not to use it." She smirked.

"So, at least tell me you guys found something."

"Nope. Nothing." Annie sighed. "Searched the whole neighborhood. Broke into houses. Nobody even had a clue."

Neji chose to ignore the "broke into houses" comment. "Neither did we. And it's sundown, too."

Annie frowned. "Well, this sucks. Another day gone."

"Agreed. Let's ask the Taitube family if they will allow us to stay the night." Gai-Sensei said. The four exhausted ninjas nodded and followed him to the house.

As they walked up the steps, Taitube himself opened the front door. He gasped.

"W-who are you?" He said, stepping back.

Neji stepped up a stair. "We're sorry to disturb you, Taitube-Sama. We have no farther leads to the kidnapping of your son so far. We are exhausted from the search and humbly beg for a place to sleep for the night."

Taitube stepped back, his eyebrows raised like he was thinking, _we got a live one, here. _

"What do you mean, child?"

"Sorry, sir. We just have no other place to go to. It's common for the mission-requester to give some means of hospitality during the mission. Please, sir." Annie begged with big blue eyes.

Taitube swallowed. "I—I would love to give you a place to sleep for the night, but I requested no mission."

"No mission? But, what about your missing Haruko?"

He blinked. "Who is Haruko?"

**36 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	17. Chapter 17

"Who is Haruko?"

The words ran through the five ninjas minds for a few moments before anyone could react.

"W-what do you mean, Taitube-Sama?" Naruto stuttered out. "Haruko is your son. The little kid who mysteriously disappeared."

He shook his head. "I have no child. My wife left me years ago because we couldn't bare one."

Annie blinked. "But—what! We were just talking to you about him earlier!"

"Yeah!" Neji said, slipping his hand inside his robes. "You gave us this picture of h—" He glanced at the picture and froze.

Taitube snatched the picture. "How did you get this? I've always kept it at my bedside table."

"I—what—uh..." Neji muttered, very confused.

Annie took over. "Sorry, Taitube-Sama. We found it...uh...flying around in the wind. We brought it back to you. Say, who are those two other people in the picture?"

"It's just of me and my ex-wife. Very personal." He glared at them as he showed them. "There's no _third _person!"

Annie's heart stopped. She'd gotten a very clear view of it earlier, and Haruko had been in the center of the photograph, smiling at the world with innocent eyes, his parents holding him like he was the center of their world.

Now, it was somehow just a picture of Taitube and his wife, who weren't smiling as nearly as brightly as before.

His past had changed.

Her mind began working through several options, bringing her to silence as she came upon a dark and horrible reckoning.

"But..." Naruto muttered.

"How...?" Neji gasped.

Gai-Sensei took Naruto and Neji's shoulders. "Come. This seems to be a case of mistaken identity. We are happy to return your photograph, Taitube. We will leave you in peace."

"Oh. Well, good. But, to thank you for..._returning _the photograph, I suppose the offer for a place to sleep is still there."

"For reals?" Lee asked.

"Yes...For _reals,_ young ninja. You and your friends here, you are all of the Leaf?"

"Yep!" Naruto said, gesturing to his headband.

"Then I can trust that you will all be on your way by sunrise?"

Gai-Sensei nodded. "Thank you, Taitube."

"Anything for the Leaf. Good people of the Fire Nation. Though...a bit odd at times." He added with a glance at Neji.

They entered the home, still bewildered by the strange photograph and Taitube's sudden Haruko memory loss.

But it wasn't just that, either. Taitube's wife...she'd apparently left him years ago. That wasn't the story only a few hours before.

When Taitube showed them a big room where the five of them could sleep on the floor and left, Naruto exploded with questions.

"WHAT. THE. CRAP." He started. "I am so confused! How did that photograph—that's just—no! What does he mean, who is Haruko? What's going on?"

Neji looked like he was trying to keep calm as well, but it didn't work. "I-I don't know! I've never encountered or heard of anything like this!"

Gai frowned. "I'm willing to bet that this has something to do with the other Missing cases."

Annie shuddered. Naruto noticed she hadn't said a thing since she'd seen the photograph, which was abnormal for her. She looked pale and sweaty, like she was about to have an attack. He sat next to her, wrapping his arms around her. She met his eyes.

Yep, she could feel an attack coming on.

"It's okay, Annie. We're all here for you." He held her tightly.

Neji noticed the gesture and raised his eyebrows. "What's wrong, Marufuji?"

She was about to answer when her whole body convulsed in pain. She let out a cry, then bit her lip to keep quiet. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and held her, tears from seeing his girlfriend in helpless pain gathering.

"Annie! What's wrong?" Gai asked.

Neji stepped back apprehensively. "Oh my gosh. Is she having PMS cramps?"

"No!" Naruto was almost amused by the idea. "She has these attacks once in a while. They only last about ten minutes. Please, keep quiet. She's in a lot of pain."

"Why did she come on a mission if she was going to have an attack? This is really dangerous!" Neji whispered sharply.

"It only happens about once a week!" Naruto said.

"T-twice." Annie moaned and coughed.

"Okay, twice a week, now." Naruto grimaced at the realization. "They're becoming more and more frequent."

"Oh my gosh." Lee muttered. "Annie, stay strong. Can we take her to a hospital?"

Naruto shook his head. "They can't help. She scanned herself with her own powers, but nothing appeared wrong. I can't do anything but hope that they'll go away someday."

Gai got on his knees and felt Annie's sweaty forehead. "Her temperature doesn't feel any different. This...this is definitely strange. Hold on, young kunoichi, we are all here for you."

Annie panted. Sweat shined on her sheet-white face. "Thank you, Gai-Sensei. It's worse then ever..."

Naruto gazed down at his girlfriend. She looked like a hurt angel who'd fallen and broken a wing.

"It's alright, Karu. You'll be fine in a few seconds. Everything's going to be better." Annie squeezed his hand, grimacing in pain.

Gai nodded, then opened his mouth to say something, when suddenly—

_**Blink**__**.**_

__Mite Gai wasgone.

For a long minute, Naruto, Neji, Lee, and Annie couldn't comprehend his sudden disappearance.

"Gai-Sensei? Where did you go?" Annie said, sitting up. At the same exact moment Gai had disappeared, her pains had gone with him.

"Uh..." Naruto froze in shock. "That wasn't a...that wasn't a clone, was it?"

"No. Otherwise there'd be a poof, and some clouds..." Annie said. She swept at tears gathering around her eyes. Her idea...it was true...

This was all her fault.

"Gai-Sensei, this isn't funny!" Lee said, a fake grin plastered on his face.

"I...I don't understand." Neji said. "How could he just...disappear? What's...what's going on?"

Naruto met Annie's eyes. He was thinking the same thing as her, which made her wince.

"Naru...I...I'm sorry..."

He helped her stand. "No, it's not your fault. It's...It's Orochimaru's fault. Don't you accuse yourself. We don't even know if it's like that."

"What are you guys talking about?" Neji demanded. His gray moon-like eyes were pin-point sized.

"Nothing." Naruto stepped forward, guarding Annie from Neji a bit. "We should all go to sleep. We're going a bit psycho from being tired. Gai just had to go to the bathroom really fast."

Lee blinked. "He did? Really? I must be...really tired."

"Yeah. We all are. It took me a minute to process him running down the hallway towards the bathroom, but it happened."

"Oh." Neji muttered. "Well...okay..." He walked to turn off the light, then settled in his sleeping bag. Lee and Annie and Naruto did the same.

"And, by the way, you two—" Neji muttered. "Don't you dare sleep within a foot of each other."

Annie almost laughed at that, but her sense of the reality of Gai-Sensei's disappearance darkened her humor.

Time and Space.

They were disintegrating, piece by piece.

All because of Annie.

**36 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	18. Chapter 18

Annie's dreams were wrought with nightmares about the world being torn apart by storms. She and the others woke up early the next morning in order to clear out of the house before Taitube woke up.

"Ah, hey, guys, where's Lee?"

"Lee?" Naruto blinked sleep out of his eyes. "Oh, Lee. Right, yeah. Um...he went to the bathroom, I think."

"Why?" She asked, thinking he might be searching for Gai-Sensei. She couldn't imagine the horrible state he must be in with Gai suddenly vanishing. She still couldn't quite register the fact that Gai had simply vanished in front of her eyes, and nobody else even believed it. Not even Naruto had mentioned it yet.

"To pee, Annie. Why else?" Neji muttered.

"Um...to look for Gai."

Naruto pressed his lips together. "Right. Gai still hasn't...come back." He met Annie's eyes. "He vanished. Like a clone, except without a poof."

"What are you talking about?" Neji asked. "Who's Gai?"

Annie recoiled from Neji, remembering Taitube and his missing son. "You know, the big guy with the green body suit, black bowl haircut, and freakish eyebrows. He's kinda off his rocker, but pretty nice."

Neji narrowed his silvery eyes, like a small memory had teased his brain, then vanished. "Nope...nobody comes to mind. The only guy I know with freakish eyebrows is—ugh—Lee. And I don't know how he even got a mission. He barely even graduated Ninja Academy. Is Gai one of your imaginary friends, or something, Annie?"

"What are you talking about? Lee totally graduated with flying colors! He learned Taijutsu—" Naruto stopped as he began to realize what Annie already knew.

"From Gai-Sensei. And now he's gone. Erased from time." Annie muttered, her chest growing ice cold.

Neji looked at them like they were crazy. "Oh...kay, then. Whatever you say..."

"What are you all doing in here? We're supposed to leave in a few seconds!" A voice came from outside the door. It slid open, and Tenzo stuck his head in.

"Tenzo? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

He and Neji looked at him strangely. "I'm...on the mission..." Tenzo said with wide sarcastic eyes.

"Bu...But..." He muttered. He met Annie's eyes, and she nodded towards the window.

"You had a full conversation with him yesterday, Naruto." Neji said.

"Uh—oh, yeah. Sorry, had a bit of a brain-fart." He said, then walked towards the window. Annie followed him and took his hand.

"See you in a minute, guys. We're gonna take a fly while Lee's in the bathroom."

"Okay. Hope it clears your brain out a bit."

They jumped out the window, then soared into the sky. Annie made a bubble around Naruto, then sat across from him in the air.

"I just don't understand." He said. "What's going on? Does this...have to do with all of those missing people?"

"Gai-Sensei disappeared, just like Haruko, and the other MIA people. It's not a band of kidnappers. It's my fault." She trembled. Naruto stood up, a difficult thing to do in a slippery bubble.

"No, Ann. It's not your fault. Just because space and time got a little bit retarded, doesn't mean you need to blame yourself. It's Orochimaru's fault. And if we find him again, we're going to make him fix it, then kick his butt again, okay?"

She nodded. "Right. Stupid Snake-Face. Everything's always his fault."

"Yeah, everything." He said, studying his angel. "Where do you suppose they all went? Do you think they'll come back?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. But if people are disappearing at this rate, I think we'll need to cut my visit here a few weeks short."

"How many weeks? You only have five left."

"A-as many as possible." She choked. "I-I don't want to, but...I don't know if people will come back if I leave. If they don't...a lot of things will be messed up. I don't want to be responsible for deaths and empty lives. Look at how Taitube's life changed just because of one person. Every single person matters and can potentially effect thousands of people they never even knew. Like a ripple."

"I...I know. We'll have to...find Orochimaru again. If he brought you here, he better as heck figure out how to take you out." Naruto muttered like he couldn't stand saying what he did.

Annie floated towards him. "I'm sorry...I love you so much, Naruto. I have to do this."

He nodded. "I know. You really are an angel."

She blushed. "Ha...right..."

"OI! Annie! Naruto! Get your butts down here!" They heard a voice. Annie flew down to the ground, Naruto floating behind her. The bubble popped when his feet touched the earth. They found a boy their age that neither of them recognized with their group.

"Uh...Lee?" He had a baggy white short-sleeved t-shirt on and shorts and socks with sandals. His ninja headband was tied around thick locks of black hair that were restless and long, instead of neatly bowl-cut. Strangest of all, his face was molded into a permanent scowl, like his life had been full of one disappointment after another. Annie was sure she'd _never _seen Lee scowl.

"Yeah? About time both of you got down here." He snapped in a totally un-Lee-like way.

"Excuse me?" She said. "You're the one with the explosive bladder." She'd never had to resort to a rebuttal like that for Lee. Lee was always so nice and non-contentious.

"Whatever. Would you just take bubble-boy and fly home?"

"What? We're going home?"

"Yeah. Get with the program, sis. Obviously, if the old guy has no mission for us to do, and _he's _the one funding the mission, we don't need to be here." He said. Annie felt taken aback by Lee's words.

Neji frowned. "Wow, Lee, you left Annie speechless. You've officially become a world-class jerk."

"Thank you, I'll be here all week...since she's been taking so long."

Annie's mental retort machine churned into overdrive. "You can just walk home without me, monster brows. Or do you still need someone to hold your hand the whole way home?"

Naruto whistled. "Nice."

"Only old ladies."

"Why? Do you have a taste for cougars?"

"No, I just like it when my hand feels strong in their fragile old hands."

Annie slapped him across the face. The sound echoed around the town, and Lee's face had a big, red hand plastered to his cheek. "Oh, yeah. Real fragile, you stupid piece of cow cud."

She turned around and stormed into the air, electricity snapping around her as her elevation grew.

"Whoa, she's a bit on the emotional side today." Neji muttered. "I mean, Annie gets mad at you all the time, but...she's actually kind of upset today."

"Hard week. I was gonna ask to fly with her, but...that's kinda dangerous, now. Thanks for getting my girlfriend mad, jerk." Naruto said.

Lee rubbed his face indignantly. "Anytime, bubble-boy. Let's hitch a ride and freaking get out of here."

* * *

Annie swept through the clouds, watching the forest far below buzz by in a blur of green. She'd flown closer towards the earth just once in this whole trip, and had come to only regret it.

Missing papers by the thousands were pinned on trees and flying through the wind, and now Gai's own soul had joined them, along with Lee's true personality.

Annie swept a tear away as she thought that only leaving this place—and her Naruto-Kun—would ever sew the threads of time and people back together.

And she really, _really _didn't want to do that.

**35 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	19. Chapter 19

It was dark in there, that was for sure.

The pitch-black and cold emptiness still seemed to ring with the sounds of science experiments and screams.

Naruto would never say it out loud, but if Annie hadn't been holding his hand, he would be running away and crying like a baby.

"This place is terrible." He muttered.

"It...It didn't used to look like this." She said. They'd come to the old Crystal Cave hideout once again, where she'd previously been kidnapped by her own brother, who'd pretended to be Orochimaru's brainwashed agent long enough to find her and try to bring her home. That hadn't worked out quite as well as they had hoped.

"It got trashed. Only some of the rooms were super mad scientist-y. Most of the hideout was made safe for me. It used to be my favorite hideout, and I'm guessing Orochimaru's favorite, too. He came here a lot more than he should've, and that's probably what led to it being found out by the Leaf Ninjas."

"Oh." Naruto muttered. "If it was found out, then what makes you think we'll find anything like the teleporting vest?"

"Orochimaru's good at hiding stuff." She said. She found herself reaching for her necklace for comfort, a habit she could have sworn had died off. Nevertheless, she squeezed it, and a rush of memories of her mom and her old life came back.

She tore her hand away from it in surprise. Her old life wasn't comforting anymore. It was more like a burden. It was so distant, so long gone, that it felt like speaking to a good friend you haven't seen for years, only to realize that too much has happened while you were separated to connect again. Now, squeezing Naruto's hand was at least a hundred times better then her necklace. But she wore it anyway.

Fire lit up in her palm, and the corridor became visible. Which kind of made everything creepier.

She walked the direction she remembered towards her bedroom. She squeaked a door open, and it was exactly the same way as when she'd left it. A few dolls and kiddie kunais were scattered on the floor (strange mix), colorful finger paints spilled on the floor, paintings all over the walls, and bright bed sheets tossed aside. It all had a thick layer of dust, and a creepy afterthought to it. This was the only room that hadn't been trashed.

"You had a thing with coloring on the walls." Naruto observed. He wiped away the dust that covered some of her painted mermaids, angels, fairies, princesses, and stick families.

Annie shrugged. "Didn't have much paper, and Orochimaru never seemed to mind."

"What are these things?" He asked, pointing at her mermaids and angels. "People with...wings? And fish tails?"

She frowned. "I guess the legends don't come around Konoha very often. Where I'm from, there are lots of mythological stories about people who are half-fish. Mermaids. They're said to be very beautiful and good at singing. A lot of little girls go through a mermaid-drawing phase." She studied the drawings, realizing a majority of the mermaids had red hair and purple sea-shells. Ariel. She _knew _she couldn't remember the movie at the time. How...?

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Okay. Your world gets weirder and weirder every time you talk about it."

She shrugged. "Yeah. Funny thing is, though...I didn't have much memory of home at the time. But I remembered things like mermaids and angels and fairies. And look..." She found a big stick family. "That's my family. Somehow, I remembered what they looked like. There's my mom and dad, and there's my little twin siblings, Nikki and Howie, and there's my older brother, Joey. And...I'm over here." She traced the distance between her and her family. There was a tall curly blonde stick figure, but it had been scribbled out, and next to it was a smaller one with brown hair. It had also been scribbled out frustratedly.

"Strange." She said, then pressed her fingers on the stone with her two different selves on it. It pushed back, and the hidden stone door swung open.

"Whoa. And you haven't forgotten where that was? Weren't you, like, four?"

"How the heck could anyone forget the secret door in their bedroom?" Annie smiled. "This is where Orochimaru kept his less..._biological _experiments. He tested lots of different electrical inventions. Most importantly, portals."

The room that the door led to looked like a metal junkyard. Spread across the floor was files of paper. Annie picked up some of the files and blinked.

"The Anti-Chakra experiment?" She read through it. "It's about me. My world. Before finding me, he must've traveled to and studied my world a hundred times. No one had chakra, yet somehow they survived. He brought me here to experiment on and watch me grow."

"But the question is, _how _did he get you here?"

Naruto watched Annie read through some of the files. He picked up some and read through it himself. _The Mermaid. _He jerked as he remembered Annie's old drawings on the wall. As he read through the file, he discovered that some of Annie's drawings had inspired Orochimaru to do a few side experiments. He had tried to fuse a human and a fish in several different ways. Each human he'd tried ended up dying, or the experiment ended up with something different then a mermaid. The same thing had happened when he'd tried to give a human wings on the back.

He folded up the file and kicked it under a rusty machine while Annie wasn't looking. He couldn't imagine how much it would hurt for her to know that her imagination as a little child had led to that. Her imagination was one of the most beautiful things about her, second only to her compassion.

"Look at this!" She exclaimed. "A Trans-dimensional portal! Look at this...'_Day 137 of the Trans-Dimensional Portal Experiment: I managed to reboot it and the Portal is up and running once again. I will not be using it again, however. The child, Annie, came through the portal with me twelve years younger than before. A hole in space and time has formed. Over the years, time and space will __catch up with us and put us all in peril. I suspect that won't happen for eons, though.' _Bull crap! Try when I turn fifteen, snake-face!"

"What about the vest that he created?"

She nodded. "He mentioned that it worked very well, and he used it a lot before he used the portal. But he made the portal for teleporting multiple people. Namely, me. Unfortunately, the portal sucked, and there was only enough material to make one vest. So he kind of dropped the trans-dimensional experiments."

"That's correct, Annie, dear."

Annie froze. Naruto spun around and glared at what he found.

"What are _you _doing here?"

Orochimaru's green eyes glinted as he smiled. "Oh, just reminiscing. This was one of my favorite labs. The only one to compete was within a volcano. Annie was excited to see it, but I never let her. Too many experiments that are hazardous for children." He sighed.

"Half of them were probably _on_ children." Naruto snapped. "Go away. We've beat you once before, we'll do it again."

"Ah, but will you? I'm afraid you need me too much to do that."

Annie pressed her lips together. Her heart thumped with anger, but she held herself down. "You're right. We do. All of time and space is falling apart. People are disappearing everywhere. Lives for everyone are changing, in a bad way. I need to go back home, in order to fix the hole that _you_ made."

He grinned. "And you can't do that without my help. Nor can I do it without yours! Well, we'll see what we can do, won't we, Annie?"

**23 DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**

_A\N:_

_PLEASE. REVIEW. PLLLEEEEASE!_

_Pleassssse?_

_Please!_

_please!_

_Pleassse?_

_Pleaseee!_

_Pretty please?_

_Look at how many reviews I have! That. is. LAME, senorita. Or senor. Whatevs. _


	20. Chapter 20

"So. What were you two sneaking around the restricted part of the hospital for?" Tsunade eyed Annie and Naruto with her piercing green eyes. She was trying to look angry, but she mostly seemed amused. Naruto and Annie had been caught kissing in the experimental chakra laboratory.

Annie shrugged. "Well, with all of the people going missing lately in the hospital, we were hoping to find some clues." That wasn't the whole truth.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Missing? What are you talking about?"

Annie winced. Of course. With the time warp going on, the only remnants of the missing people was the faint feeling that something was wrong. Everywhere she stepped, the feeling followed her and everyone around her. Lives were changing and disappearing. For some reason, Annie and Naruto were the only people that seemed to remember how everything was only weeks ago. Actually, even Naruto's memories were beginning to fade.

"Just a doctor...not very important...he just went missing. We investigated the laboratory for signs of him." Yeah. An unimportant doctor. More like hundreds of people forgotten by the Fire Country, and they were looking for the chakra energy source they needed for the portal. When they'd heard guards coming down the hall, Annie pulled Naruto to her and kissed him so that they wouldn't get in too much trouble. Didn't work too well.

She snorted. "More like you investigated each other's mouths. Why haven't I hear of this missing doctor?"

"You're the Hokage. You have a billion things to do." Naruto said.

Tsunade sighed. Exhaustion from weeks of worry and stress revealed itself on her face, making her look ten years older. (Which would still be younger than how old she actually is.)

"A billion things." She snorted. "I haven't had a thing to do. I _feel _like there should be a billion things to do. Something should be tormenting me. Keeping me up at night. But it's...missing." She drummed her fingers on the desk in thought. She looked out the window and studied the empty streets. As far as she knew, the streets had always been this empty. Little did she know that, only weeks ago, they'd been bustling with tons of people. Weeks ago, she'd been in over her head with hundreds of files of missions to give to hundreds of ninjas at her disposal. Now, she had almost no missions, and almost no ninjas. And she couldn't even remember.

The village was a lot smaller, too. The forest around them had grown wild. The Leaf was slowly disappearing.

"You two may go." Tsunade waved for them to be dismissed. Her fingers pinched the bridge of her nose.

Naruto met Annie's eyes. He looked concerned for Tsunade. Annie took Naruto's hand and they left Hokage Tower.

"Everything will be back to normal once Orochimaru installs the power source and...and we fix everything. Tsunade will be okay. Lee will be himself. Gai will be back."

"Lee's disappeared, too." Naruto muttered. "And a lot of our other friends. Kiba, Hinata, Neji..."

"What about Sakura?"

Naruto winced. "Not that I know of. She's probably going soon, though. I remember Lee saving her life once."

I looked at Naruto. "He saved our lives, too."

Naruto blinked. "He did?" He strained to remember with narrowed eyes. It was moments like this that let Annie know that Naruto was losing his memories of the Missing people, just much more slowly than others. She knew that Naruto would be the first to remember events like someone saving his life.

Finally, he grinned like the memory was finally clear. "Right. Of course he did. He saved us from that bone dude."

"So that means that you'll disap—" A shock of pain ran racked her body. It was the third time that day an attack had come. Naruto whipped out a syringe and poked her with it in the arm. Annie felt numbness creep up her arm and freeze all of the pain in its tracks. She dropped to the ground as she lost the feeling in her legs, but Naruto scooped her up.

"Dang, Annie. Three times."

She tried to nod, but her neck was numb like the rest of her. She didn't like being immobilized like this for fifteen minutes, but it was much better than the pain. She'd never thought temporarily desensitizing her body would work. She'd thought that this wasn't a physical thing, but a mental one.

"Whey's da en'gy soyce?" She muttered with her fumbling lips.

Naruto's lips twitched like he was trying not to smirk. "The chakra energy source is with Orochimaru now. I sent it on a messenger bird just before we got caught. Annie, why didn't you just turn invisible at the time?"

She tried to shrug, but it looked a little bit like a seizure.

"Right. Questions later. We better go supervise Orochimaru on the project. Never know if he's developing some ultra-powered weapon with the stuff we give him."

Annie's eyebrows raised like she found the idea amusing.

"You're such a good conversationalist." Naruto snorted, then took off into the forest, towards the Crystal Cave.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I need one more day." Orochimaru said as he connected some wires inside the floating door. He'd designed it as a door for the sake of the metaphor of it being a "door between dimensions". Plus, it was much more simplistic this way, and less suspicious or frightening to any random ninja who finds the project. As long as they didn't find it while it was floating a foot off the ground.

"One day? That'll leave us with three days until Annie's fifteenth." Naruto said. "We might actually make it."

Orochimaru wiped his forehead. Naruto swore it was the first time he'd seen Orochimaru actually work. He was determined to fix time. Why was what scared Naruto. Orochimaru had predicted that soon, all of the people in this world would disappear. Then, the planet itself would tear apart. Space and time would collapse in itself. The other dimensions would start being affected, too.

His eyes flicked to Annie. "Another attack?"

"Yeah."

"More people gone."

"Uh-huh."

"This energy source should be all we need to have a one-way trip. After that, I'm afraid that everything will burn out. The technology to do this simply isn't available, yet." Orchimaru muttered. Annie shook in Naruto's arms. He knew what she was thinking.

They had one day.

Maybe they could wait. Just until the last day. On her birthday. That way they could have four days. She was supposed to wait anyway, wasn't she? She couldn't go back while she was fourteen.

But Naruto sighed and gave himself a mental bop in the head. People were disappearing. They couldn't put it off. It had to be done as soon as possible.

"Do we need to collect anything else for you?" They'd stolen what, ten things for him? Not to mention the different kinds of metals from different lands! He didn't want to do anymore. The materials had been so difficult to get their hands on!

"No. I don't think so. But you never know..." Orochimaru continued working. He gave Naruto a look that said _Leave and let the expert work_. Naruto shrugged and carried Annie out the door. He kicked it open, right at Sasuke.

He jerked back. "Sasuke?" Annie's winced in his arms. She hadn't seen him in a while. Naruto didn't know what she'd do right now if she wasn't numb.

Sasuke looked equally surprised. "Uzumaki? What are you doing in this old hideout?" He saw Annie. "What's wrong with her?"

"None of your business, Uchiha."

Sasuke looked past Naruto's shoulder and spotted Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru-Sama! What are you doing with them?"

Orochimaru stood and composed himself. "I am temporarily collaborating with them on an important project."

Sasuke's eyes went wider with surprise than ever. "_That's_ what you've been up to these last few weeks? How in the world did you convince _Annie _to collaborate with you?"

Orochimaru let a half-smile slip. "A matter of Apocalypse importance has come upon us. I suppose that would be the only situation she would ever consider willingly working with me...for now."

Naruto's face twisted with rage. "For now? You seriously still think there might be some way for her to act like your biological experiment? She won't even be able to come back once she goes home!" His voice cracked in the last sentence. His pupils thinned like a cat's for half a second. Sasuke noticed it and immediately told himself to shut up.

Naruto turned back towards him. "And you! Don't even _look _at her!" He held Annie closer to his heart and stalked past Sasuke.

Annie's heart panged when she saw the subtle hurt in Sasuke's deep black eyes as they passed by. She didn't love him. She never had. But they had been friends. She _had _cared about him once. And he had cared—or possibly still cared—about her. She wished she could reach out and clasp his hand companionably for just a second, to comfort him—but she knew that both Sasuke and Naruto would read too much into it.

Instead, all she did was whisper, "Sasuke. Be good to yourself," as they passed him by. He glanced at her through the corner of his eye, and his frown became less deep.

Annie closed her eyes and pictured Team 7 in her mind once again.

So long ago.

Everyone hadn't just been forgetting the Missing people.

They had forgotten Team 7.

She was the only one with its memory.

And soon she'd be the only one to remember any of the villagers at all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Naruto stayed in her log cabin that night. He slept on the floor, numbing syringe ready any second she started to feel the pain. It was almost guaranteed that there would be another attack again that night. It wasn't just for that reason that he stayed, though. Annie had been getting terrible nightmares, especially since Orochimaru had started living in the Crystal Cave hideout. It was quite a few miles from the village—about six hours of travel, if you knew where you were going—but it had been the closest range from the village Orochimaru had been in for years. She was scared to death that any moment he would barge in and grab her and destroy everything she knew and cared about.

She would never, _ever _admit that that's what her nightmares were about, especially with an apocalypse so close in time, but she had a feeling that Naruto already knew. Somehow, Naruto could guess that her childhood demon was still her worst nightmare, even if she had beaten him a thousand times. Until the day he died, he would always occupy a dark corner of her mind. No, even then. He'd haunt her forever. Him and his snake-eyes.

"Baka snake-face." She muttered. Naruto jerked as her whisper echoed around the cabin, then went back to snoring and drooling on the floor. Annie smiled and took a Kleenex from her pocket, then reached over and wiped the drool from his face. She knew he would be super stiff from the hard floor in the morning, so she lifted him up and made a bed of cushion-y air beneath him, then wrapped him with warm air. He looked so content as he snuggled into her little invention that he looked like a little kid. Not a guy with a girlfriend who has a huge list of problems.

How could Naruto stand to be with her? She came with too much baggage. A tangled past, an attitude, other guys who liked her, a psychopath who constantly chased her, and a deadline.

Naruto deserved better. He deserved someone who'd always be there for him.

Someone who'd be there when he became Hokage.

She couldn't remember the last time Naruto had declared "_I will be Hokage!" _to someone else. Had he stopped believing? Was he so distracted by her that he had forgotten himself?

If that were true, then maybe the best thing for Naruto would be for her to leave.

Her heart lurched at the idea. All she'd ever wanted for Naruto was to be someone who helped him become Hokage.

A knock sounded at the door and surprised her. She moved floating Naruto to the corner of her log house, where the visitor couldn't see that she had a boy in her room. Not that it was any of their business, but it would still be embarrassing.

She opened the door and almost screamed.

"Orochimaru! What do you want?" She said, her teeth gritting together. He normally would've smirked at her obvious disdain for him, but his eyes were cold and dead serious.

"Annie-Chan, I'm afraid I miscalculated."

"Miscalculated?" She said, wondering for a second if the door had blown up or something.

"Yes. I need one more favor from you and Naruto. But I'm afraid it might be impossible in the time frame we have."

He showed her a blueprint of a microchip. "This is what I need. It's under security in a the land of rice, many miles away."

Annie studied it suspiciously. She knew Orochimaru could be using them for personal gain. "Oh, yea? What do you need a microchip for in the portal?"

He sighed. "When will you just trust me? The microchip is like the wheel of the portal. It wills the portal connect with your mind and bring you to the place you're thinking of. It's a necessary part of it."

Annie looked at Naruto. "NARUTO-KUN!" She shouted. He jerked awake, then looked down and yelped.

"Calm down. It's just a bed made of air. Snake-face said he has one more thing for us to do."

Naruto muttered a few curses, then swung his legs off of his invisible bed and dropped to the floor. He shuffled to Orochimaru, then said, "What?"

He explained the same thing to Naruto. He blinked sleepily and yawned. "I guess we're going to the land of rice, then. This couldn't wait until morning?"

"Naruto, the travel to the land of rice could take a full day. We only have three of those." Annie said. Naruto winced.

"Oh, no. Okay. Fine. We'll leave within the next hour. Think you could cov..." He looked at Orochimaru, then shook his head. Of course Orochimaru couldn't cover for them. They'd just have to be missed for a while.

Orochimaru smirked. "Well, I could cover for you. Say that I took you under my wings. But I suppose that would be worse than just being gone."

"Yeah. Is there anything else you can tell us?" Annie asked.

"Look for the Kage there. He is supposed to be keeping it in his personal library."

Annie jutted out her chin with determination. "Okay. We'll get on that. You better be ready for us when we get back to the cave, Snake-face."

He nodded. "The machine will be ready. Hurry. We don't have much time."

**THREE DAYS UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	21. Chapter 21

The Kage's personal library was freezing.

Annie was seriously shivering under a thick leather jacket, boots, blue scarf, and jeans. Outside, there was six feet of snow. Naruto was just as cold as she was, but he didn't show it, probably out of his need to be manly. Annie wanted heat up her hands with her fire jutsu, but she didn't want to accidentally cast these books on fire, or set off a sprinkler system—that would _suck._

Years ago, Annie would've laughed at this temperature. New York winters were much colder—with mountains of snow that would laugh at the hills outside. She'd gotten too used to Konoha's freaking perfect weather.

"I could really go for some hot Ichiraku ramen right now." She whispered.

Naruto looked down at her strangely. "What ramen?"

Heat grew behind Annie's eyes. "Nothing. Keep looking down here. I'll fly around."

She stumbled into the air, then swooped over the shelves.

Naruto watched her go. What did she say? Something about the word _Ichiraku_? The name tickled his brain somewhere, but other than that, he had no idea what she was talking about. Annie had been bringing up strange things all morning—since they'd gotten here. She tried to remind him of this guy she called _Kakashi_, and all of these weird stories she had of him and his perverted books and his crazy training and his mask. Apparently, Naruto had known him just as well as she had.

He shuddered. He couldn't bear the idea that he was forgetting people.

Was he going to forget Annie when she left?

No. No, that couldn't be. He could never forget Annie—her smile, her compassion, her strength, her eyes, her laugh, her jokes, the way she made him feel like he was flying whenever she kissed him, but when he'd looked down, his feet were planted firmly on the ground.

He shook his head. Focus, Naruto. Focus.

He ran around the dusty library, so fast his feet were a blur.

_Two and a half days. _

Nothing in the fictional book section.

_Two and a half._

Nothing here.

_Never see her again._

Could there be a book section about technology?

_Never kiss her again._

No microchip displayed in there. Maybe it was hidden.

_She'll find someone else._

Could it be hidden behind a shelf? Inside a book?

_If she gets hurt, you won't be there to save her._

Naruto stopped. These thoughts were ridiculous. Of course he'd see her again. Just...not for a while. He'd have to bribe Orochimaru to make another door, which would be hard, but not impossible. And, seriously, Annie could take care of herself. Especially in the world where she came from. She was the only person with the kind of abilities she had there. At least, as far as she knew.

And she'd see her family again. She wouldn't be totally miserable. After so many years, this was good. As for Naruto, he was probably going to have to learn to live independently again, anyway. For a while, he'd nearly lost sight of his first goal: Becoming Hokage.

But being Hokage would mean nothing to him if Annie wasn't by his side. He'd make stupid mistakes if Annie didn't have her common sense to straighten him out.

He punched a bookcase, and a book fell and hit his head with a thunk. He rubbed his head and picked it up, cursing at it.

He studied it for a second. The book title was in a strange writing, as was the rest of the text. He opened it, and something clattered on the floor. The microchip!

"Annie!" He whispered loudly as he picked it up. "I think I found it!" He stuffed the book into his jumpsuit pocket.

After a split second, Annie appeared upside-down in front of his face, her curly hair dangling. Thank goodness she wasn't wearing her dress.

"You found it?" She grinned. "Let me see!" She took the microchip from his hands and studied it with a curious look on her face. The silly look and her upside-down position made Naruto chuckle.

"What?"

"You just reminded me of when..." He stopped as the memory prickled on his brain. "Well, when Team 7 used to..." He scratched his head. What was he talking about?

Annie's big blue eyes batted at him. "Team 7? You remember Team 7, right?"

"I...well...Something to do with...Sasuke...And us...and there was...a teacher...lots of hard training..." He strained his mind trying to remember.

"That teacher was Kakashi! The one with the mask!"

"Sorry, Annie. I just can't remember Kakashi."

She sighed. "I bet Kakashi got saved a few times by Gai. If you were like everyone else, you'd have forgotten him weeks ago. But you still remember Team 7...that's...that's important..."

"Why?"

"Because Sasuke forgot, and look what happened to him!"

Naruto frowned. What did she mean, Sasuke forgot? "Annie, everyone's forgotten much more than Team 7."

"That's not what I..." She shook her head. "Never mind. Come on, let's get the chip to Orochimaru. We don't have much time."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Annie ducked and dived through the golden clouds, Naruto holding onto her hand and letting the air currents push him up.

"Annie, I can run by myself through these woods! I'm slowing you down."

"No way! We don't have much time left together. And I need you."

Naruto nodded and pulled himself closer to Annie's face. "I know. I need you too."

She snorted. "Why would you need me? I'm the reason we're going through this massive disaster. If it weren't for me—"

He kissed her sneakily, his hand reaching around and tracing her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her heart fluttered as it always did when he kissed her.

"When you came to my school on that first day, I was the one with the self-esteem issues. Don't you dare go home with them. You're still gonna be your old self. Confident, beautiful, smart, compassionate, and always ready to do what's right."

Annie blushed, then picked her chin up said, "You know it. And you, you're always going to be happy, kind, super hot, strong, and funny?"

Naruto laughed nervously. "Well...yeah, I'll try my best. I mean, when I'm an old crotchety dude I don't know how super hot I'll be..."

"Psh. I think wrinkles are sexy."

"In that case, I'll be a very fine senior."

"Oh, I think so." She picked up the chip from her pocket. "Shall we then?"

"I think we shall. Just one more thing." He swept his hand across her mouth. "I think I forgot something right..." He pressed his lips on hers, and they kissed all over again, his arms around her waist and her arms around his neck.

They broke and gasped for air, and he said, "..there. Got it!"

They flew away, shivering with energy from the kiss, Annie's smile wider than it had been for a long time. They traveled, all day, and into the night, until they reached village. Or what was left of it.

**ONE** **DAY UNTIL ANNIE'S FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY**


	22. Chapter 22

Dark forest was everywhere.

The mountain carved with the Hokages' faces was plain. Trees covered every inch of the valley where the Leaf used to be. A strange storm was brewing, making black clouds churn and lightning

"How is Orochimaru even here right now? How am _I _here?" Naruto asked.

"The same way you remembered everything longer than everyone else. Exposure to _me_." Annie muttered.

"But he hasn't been close to you for years!"

"Which means we better act fast. How much do you remember? Sasuke? Sakura? Tsunade? Kiba? Gaara?"

He shook his head on every name. "Everything's a blur. I...I barely remember what that mountain is supposed to look like. Or the village. There isn't anyone in my head anymore. The only people I've ever known are you and Orochimaru...it's like my whole life is a lie."

Annie choked back a sob as she stared into Naruto's blue eyes. "Your life isn't a lie. It's just getting swept away. Hold on. Everything's going to get better. Just hang on tight."

Lightning cracked across the sky, and Annie let go of Naruto's hand to redirect the lightning. Hot, fiery power seared her fingers and surged through her chest until it reached her other hand, which pointed at the ground. She'd only done it a few times before, and it still left her insanely dizzy. She started to drop, which meant Naruto was going to drop.

Naruto made a hand sign and summoned fifty clones. The clones helped them safely tumble down and reach the ground without a scratch. He made them all disappear with a poof, and he studied Annie, whose eyes were closed and lips were blue. Her clothes were torn and ruined, and the weather was starting to blow ice cold snow, and he swore that somewhere nearby a tornado was blowing. He held her head, her curls spilling through his fingers, as he dug through his backpack.

"N-Naruto..." She muttered.

"Don't worry, Annie. I'm going to take care of you. You're going to be fine."

"W-what t-time is it?" She wheezed. His eyebrows knit.

He looked at his watch. "It's...it's almost midnight. Almost your birthday. A few more minutes."

She smiled weakly. "So, what if you kept me alive for a little longer, then let me go?"

"Annie, you're not going to die!"

"We didn't even think about it. It doesn't matter, right? It doesn't matter if I die, I'll just go home."

"No! I won't let you! It'll be all too real for me. I don't want your last minutes here to be cold and painful. Besides, we don't know if that will set things right. Orochimaru's doorway will fix it. And we don't know if you won't die on the other side as well. It's just too risky." He pulled out her white dress.

"Make yourself warm and heal yourself. I know you can."

Her hands lit up with blue light, and she let the light travel up her goosebumpy arms. She made the air currents around them warm. The currents blocked the rain and snow and chilling wind.

"Get dressed," He said, "I won't look. Please, no more talk about dying."

She ripped off her torn and burnt clothes as he averted his eyes.

"Death. Killing. Suicide. Homicide. Murder. Stabbing. Shooting. Poison. Manslaughter." She listed with increasing sarcasm.

Naruto smirked. "Shut up."

"Oh, sure." She said, then straightened her dress on her body and kicked off her smoking boots. "Decease. Expiry. Hades. Underworld. Perish. Kickin' the old bucket."

"You suck." Naruto rolled his eyes, "Are you done, yet?"

"Not with my list of death words."

He turned around and looked at her. "But you _are _done getting dressed. So, let's go."

"Naruto! What if I wasn't?"

"Then I would've seen you naked. Not a totally bad deal for me."  
"Oh, yeah, because you're just that smarmy." She said, her voice dripping with the usual sarcasm.

"What does that even mean?"

"No idea!"

"Oh..."

"What?"

He turned his wristwatch towards her. "Happy birthday, Annie."

Annie stared at the time face, all of her emotion and amusement from moments ago gone.

Most girls adore their fifteenth birthday. Some cultures even celebrate it as the transfer from childhood into womanhood. If Annie were a normal girl, she'd be thrilled to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. She'd be thrilled to be finally reaching the same age as her boyfriend.

Annie dropped to her knees and started to cry. Her hands scrabbled for her four-ringed necklace, and she ripped it away and threw it into a tree trunk.

"Annie!" Naruto caught her necklace and her flailing fists. She struggled for a second, then relaxed as more tears started to flow down her cheeks.

"Annie! Ssh. It's okay." She sobbed into the crook of his neck and cuddled into his chest.

Naruto wanted to cry, too, but he held on. He had to be strong for her. He looked down at her necklace. The four little rings were rusty and old from many years of holding and squeezing.

"I-I'm sorry." Annie said. "I shouldn't have freaked out. I just...didn't think it would ever..."

"Yeah, I know. Same here." Naruto stroked a lock of her hair back with a finger. They sat in silence in the warm bubble of air currents. He reached into his bag and pulled out a fancy turquoise comb with beautiful blue gems and feathers.

"Goodness crap, Naruto. I had no idea you liked wearing that kind of stuff." She laughed dryly.

"I'm not sure you do, either." He said, staring at the comb. "In fact, I'm pretty sure you've only ever worn a pony tail in your hair, or just left it down. You'd probably say this is way too gaudy for you. You'd say it's gross, and leave it without even trying it on in the store." He took the comb and tucked it into her hair. It brought out her eyes.

"I would never say that—"

"Yes, you would. Annie, you're beautiful, but you just don't realize it. You've always acted like a tomboy. Rolling your eyes at Sakura and Ino, never wearing dresses, never trying new clothes. But then you started wearing a dress this last year, and I thought that maybe you'd seen your beauty, but then I realized it was just another way for you to blend in. Become a ghost. You're confident and strong, always willing to step out, but you still do things like that. Because you're a girl."

"Or, maybe, I wanted to prove that I was pretty without conforming to girly styles."

"Or, maybe, that was your excuse. Maybe you didn't have it in yourself to just try things like this." He tapped her comb gently. She blinked, then sighed.

"Son of a mother's goat, Naruto. You know me way too well."

He smiled. "You look amazing, and that comb can't even compare. You and that dress and that comb...I'd say Sakura and Ino would approve. But the question is, would you approve?"

Annie blushed bright red as she made a mirror with with a pool of water floating in front of her. "I look...I _feel _beautiful. How do you always do this, Naruto? How do you always make me feel like this? Even when we're sitting in the middle of the forest, waiting on an apocalyptic storm to pass? Even when I'm going to leave forever?"

Naruto smiled weakly, even though his heart thumped with pain. "It won't be forever. Just a little while. You'll be there when I'm selected as Hokage, yet."

Annie grinned brightly, a true flash-of-white-teeth Annie smile. "That's the plan." She kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Naruto."

He blushed and looked around. "What if you made the shield around us move with us as we jumped through the trees?"

She frowned in thought. "If I used wind to help me jump through the trees or fly, _and _used it as a shield for both of us, I might cause a tornado or something."

"With all of the weather and crap that's going on, I'd be okay with that. As long as you make sure it won't blow us to death."

She shrugged. "Hey, what happens, happens." She ran straight up the tree, wind blowing her hair forward. She stared down at him from the top branch.

"Come on, Naruto-Kun! We have to find Orochimaru! Everything's disappearing!"

**Happy Fifteenth Birthday, Annie!**

**Next Chapter Is Final!**


	23. Final Chapter

The sky was black, though it was morning. It wasn't just black as night. The sky was empty, sucked up and turned into a black hole, spewing terrible storms and tornadoes and hurricanes even though Konoha had never seen such weather. The trees were disappearing. The stars were shining brighter and brighter, then vanishing without a trace.

Where the water fall and mountain had once been, keeping Orochimaru's hideout a secret, was nothing but more forest with a small empty field. In the center of the field, was the door.

Orochimaru traced the sleek door frame with a single finger. He looked at Annie and Naruto.

"It is done. Now hurry. My life is slipping away, and the door will slip with me if you do not step through soon."

He opened the door. "Just think about your home and step through."

Annie's heart stopped as she stared at the swirl of bright colors before her. She touched the comb in her hair tenderly, then whirled around to meet Naruto's eyes. His eyes reflected the colors of her portal, then he looked at her.

"I love you." He said, so sure of himself that Annie's heart leaped.

"I love you, too." She said, with conviction as fine as his. "Naruto, listen, if we don't find a way to see each other often enough to have a life together..." She swallowed. "I want you to be happy. I need you to move on, and find a girl, so that you're always happy."

Naruto nodded. "I want the same for you. But we'll never forget each other, right?"

"Never." She smiled, and touched her comb again. "That's why you gave me this, right? So that I'll know this was for real. I won't forget."

He smiled and nodded. She took his hands and opened them, finding the necklace she'd tossed.

"And you keep that." She said. "A totes crappy gift, what with the rust and all, but it's all I've got."

He looked at the necklace. Tears started to come to his eyes as he stared.

Annie saw the tears and wiped them away. "There's nothing wrong with crying," She said.

"Annie. Annie-Chan. Annie Marufuji. Annie Wilison. _Erementaru Hana_. The ghost." Naruto whispered, "The new girl. The crazy hot-head. The one-hundred-percent aim ninja. The biggest flirt in the village. The fourth member of Team 7. The last member to forget. My only friend, my best friend, my girlfriend."

Annie's life practically flashed before her eyes as Naruto spoke. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She was speechless. How could saying goodbye to this life be so hard?

Oh, yeah, that's why.

She pressed her lips together, trying to force the stone in her throat down. "Naruto. Naruto-Kun. Naruto Uzumaki. The next Hokage. The clone-summoner. The sun. The day. The Leaf's warmth. The lonely boy. The kyuubi's owner. The dorky smiler. The one who worked harder than everyone else. The biggest hottie in the village. The first member of Team 7. The last villager to forget. _My_ only friend, _my_ best friend, my boyfriend."

With that, Naruto embraced Annie and they squeezed each other with all their might. Annie got a nose-ful of that Naruto scent she'd miss. Naruto's hands tangled into her hair. They kissed hard with hot tears streaming down their face, then released each other.

"I have to go now." She whispered.

He nodded. Annie turned around, and stepped to the portal. Her hand traced the surface, and she felt the strange energy force that she would never quite understand.

"Go, Annie. It's only a matter of time." Orochimaru urged her.

Annie looked over her shoulder and grinned, "See ya soon, Naruto-Kun!"

Then she stepped through the portal, her leg disappearing, then her shoulders going through, then the last golden curl on her head, then her foot. Naruto reached for her hand as it fell through the surface of the portal, barely tracing her fingers before they went through.

And she was gone.

He fell to his knees, shut his eyes, and covered his ears.

He heard nothing, saw nothing, and felt nothing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sunlight fluttered through Sakura's eyelashes.

She gasped. She felt like she'd woken up, but she couldn't remember going to bed and trying to sleep. Somehow she was standing in the middle of a green field, surrounded by hundreds of people looking just as confused as she was.

She scanned the sea of faces, finding many vaguely familiar faces from all over the Fire Country, then gasped. Sasuke was there, among the confused souls, staring at her like he'd just woken up and found her face too.

"Sasuke..." She said.

"Sakura..." He muttered. They hesitantly stepped forward.

"Do you..." She began, but trailed off.

"No...no idea." He said. Then, they both noticed that the sea of faces had begun to all look at the same spot in the field. A huge metal door was planted in the very center, but the faces near the door were looking down, at the ground, which was hidden by the crowd. Sakura felt an instinct urgency to see what was there. She met Sasuke's eyes, and found the same urgency in them.

They ran, tearing their way through the crowd, jumping over people on occasion. They made it to the edge and there, at the very center of all of the people, collapsed on his knees, at the edge of the strange metal door, was Naruto. His face was hidden. His fists clenched the grass. His whole body was shaking.

"Naruto...?" Sakura started. She lost track of her words, her confusion and sympathy was so great.

"Naruto, where's Annie?" Sasuke asked, disturbed that the girl was not here comforting Naruto like she normally would.

He looked up. His eyes were bloodshot and dark, so unlike the bright sunshine of day they normally reminded the world of. His face was sheet white.

"She...she's gone." Naruto said. Naruto couldn't believe his own words. They had to be lies.

"'She's gone'? What do you mean?" She asked gently.

Naruto stood up, swallowing. He had to be strong. He had to be strong.

He stared at the door. His hand reached out and touched it.

"Happy birthday, Annie. I'll miss you."


	24. Annie's Diary: Epilogue

May 25th

Dear Diary,

I don't write in diaries much, but my therapist says it'll help me find something to "root myself" in. Whatever the crap that means.

Math homework sucks. It sucks serious butt. Especially after not doing it for, oh, twelve years?

Okay, so, everyone else says it's only been six months. Half a year of me laying around in a hospital bed. My arms and legs should be little white noodles, right'?

Wrong. I'm super tan and I have abs of iron. I can do any gymnastics you name without taking a breath. I earned the right to brag that to everyone, but I can't.

Nobody believes that I was actually in a super coma and woke up only two weeks ago except for the people who actually visited me in the hospital. The press are uber suspicious of my doctors. In fact, some of them were accused of pumping me with steroids or something. I was the only one to stand up for them on trial. I won.

My parents—they've been spending every second with me, making sure I don't get attacked by some weirdo freak again. I'm okay with this. I haven't seen them in forever. I could barely even remembered their faces! I'm not sure how I could forget my mom's stern but kind voice, my dad's hearty laugh, and my little brother and sister, Nikki and Howie—such cute little kids! I've spent every second with my family. I missed them so much.

My brother, Joey, oh, gosh, what a bum. I can't tell if he remembers what happened in Naruto's world. He's so funny and handsome—I can't remember why we used to fight all the time. I'm sure that at some point I'll remember, but for now...well...I'll just try to enjoy this. I wish he'd tell me whether he remembered. My comb is the only thing I have that tells me that it wasn't all the dream. Well, that and my powers. And my ninja reflexes.

Don't even get me started on school. I can't remember anything. It's super boring. My old friends? Fake. Every one of them. They can't even compare to my teammates and fellow ninjas in Konoha. There are only two people in this world who are my friends, through and through. Simon and Chelsea. Chelsea's the classic shopaholic text-a-lot high school girl. Simon's a nerd who talks about conspiracy theories and aliens and stuff, but tries to fit in by starting up his own band and learning guitar.

Oh, yeah, and I have a therapist. It's kind of pointless. As if therapy can ever fix what's happened. I don't _want _it to be fixed.

This morning, I had to go to a session. I was a little cranky, if you can't tell from the following dialogue.

"Annie, tell me how school has been for you."

"Sucky."

"Why?"

"It's school."

Dr. Sweets sighed. "I can't help you if you don't tell me anything about your life, Annie Wilison."

I winced. That last name. I've gone by "Marufuji" for so long, that my real name doesn't sound right anymore.

Dr. Sweets totally noticed, the weirdo. "What was that? Did you wince at your own name?"

"Uh, no. I winced at the fact that you think I need help. Why does everyone think I need help?"

"Well, you missed out on six months of your life."

"And? I can cope."

He sighed. "Miss Wilison, please stop trying to resist the conversation and just talk to me."

"I am talking to you."

"No, you're speaking. It's not the same as talking."

"Pretty sure that those two words are synonyms in every thesaurus."

"Miss Wilison, your parents are paying for our sessions. Do you want to drain their resources?"

"I never asked for this. It's their fault for getting me a shrink."

"Please cooperate, Miss Wilison. I know you might feel threatened or controlled or invaded, but it's not like that. We only want to make sure that you are doing okay."

I felt bad for being difficult. I wanted to let up on the poor little shrink. "Fine. Shoot."

"Do you have friends at school?"

"Yes. A lot of my old ones left me, saying I changed and stuff, and it's true. I have changed. And they stayed the same. Same, boring, immature high-schoolers."

"Does your coma experience make you feel adult compared to your peers?"

"No. Adults are boring." Psh. This guy had no idea what psychology was. He'd never been in the heat of battle. He'd never watched friends betray him and leave him behind. He'd never had two people literally fight to the death over him. He'd never been kidnapped and torn away from family for twelve years. He'd never come back to people who'd never believe what had happened to you.

He'd never loved someone so much that he'd almost let an apocalypse happen just to be with them for a few more seconds.

"Annie, I'm getting a sense that something deeper happened to you in your coma." Dr. Sweets said.

"And I'm getting a sense that you can go screw a donkey." I muttered.

He sat back and folded his arms, studying me carefully. "You became defensive, just as you were before I assured you of safety. Something _did _happen."

"Yeah. I missed half a year."

He sighed. "And the sarcasm drips on. Well, that's the end of your session. I'll see you next week, Annie."

"Joy." I mumbled.

So, yeah, I wasn't a happy camper. Mostly because if I actually told my therapist what happened, he'd send me straight to happy prison. Or, in other words, a mental hospital. I could break out, sure, if I wanted to be chased down my whole life.

The things I do for the sake of space and time.

I went home, taking out my comb and tracing the shiny material under my fingers. I loved it, really, but sometimes it sent a sharp stab through my heart, the way my necklace used to in Naruto's world. This comb kept me pinned between two worlds; torn forever between both.

_I miss him so much..._

I looked at my shiny silver watch. It had two time faces.

Almost time.

I ran as fast as I could to the park. It was the best place for things like this. I looked around, escaping into the trees and running onto a small bridge over a ditch that was designed prettily, covered by the green, limp branches of willows. No one was supposed to see.

I looked at the watch. One of the faces was off by twelve hours, so it said AM in the center. Finally, the watches struck six.

I waited.

Blue light flashed around me, and I was suddenly gazing into bright blue, beautiful eyes.

"Naruto-Kun! You're here!" I whispered, and my arms wrapped around him. His arms surrounded me and held me close.

"I'd never miss a date with you, Annie-Chan. Even if I have to wake up at six o'clock in the morning."

"Unless, like, Sakura or Kakashi were dying or something, right?"

He laughed. "Right."

I smiled and lifted up my face for a kiss. "How are things, anyway?"

He shrugged and kissed me. "Not too bad."

I met his eyes. He avoided meeting mine, and his poker face was on. "That's great. Now tell me what's really up."

He sighed, "Well, things have gotten a bit crazy. There's rumors of this Akatsuki guy named Pain...And, well, Jiraiya went to go scope him out. I'm a bit worried about him."

I ran my hands through his blonde hair. "Don't worry so much. He'll be fine. Jiraiya may be a total pervert, but he's a super powerful old dude." I snorted. "How come all of the powerful elders in Konoha are perverts? Kakashi, Jiraiya...I bet the super old Elder of Konoha is, too!"

Naruto laughed. "And I know that sexy girl spell. So I'm going to be just like them!"

I laughed, then turned a playful smile on. "Yeah, but I like you that way."

Naruto grinned, then pulled me closer and kissed me hard. _Oh my gosh, his lips...so soft..._

Ever since Naruto had rounded up every genius in the Fire Country to build a better version of Orochimaru's teleporter, we'd been able to teleport to each other's worlds at least once a day. I wasn't sure exactly how Naruto had convinced the inventors to do it, but I think it had something to do with the fact that every single country honored him as a big hero, and me as a martyr, until I was able to come back to Konoha after a few months.

Our watches are awesome. The first time you use them to teleport, you get sick. No way around it. All the times after that you feel a little dizzy, but that's it. We can use them over and over, and they're perfectly fine. We can teleport to whoever or wherever we picture.

So, yeah, Naruto and I made out, explored some of the park, and pretty much had the best day ever. After an hour, I had to go. My mom was texting me like mad to get my butt home. When I got home, she was totally pissed.

Speaking of mad, my dad just saw that I was writing in my journal instead of doing my freaking math homework. Better go.

Signing off,

Annie Marufuji. or Wilison. Whatevs.

Maybe just Annie Uzumaki. I like that one.

**A\N:**

**Yup. All done. Probably forever. This story took WAY too long to end.**

**But it was an awesome ride.**

**But, you know what's great about Annie's watch? It can go _ANYWHERE!_**

**I mean anywhere! LET'S MESS WITH ALL OF THE FANDOMS! YES! TAKING SUGGESTIONS! **


End file.
